“No One Is Stopping Me”: Migrant Among Thousands Who Crossed Into Spain Refuses to Leave and Makes a Chilling Promise About What He Will Do Next

A migrant who crossed into the Spanish city of Ceuta during last week’s huge border surge has said he would rather die trying than give up on reaching mainland Europe.

Thousands of migrants are still staying in a makeshift camp on a hill outside Ceuta after crossing into the Spanish territory from Morocco. Most of the estimated 60,000 people who entered the city have now gone back to Morocco because they ran out of food, became exhausted, or were forced to leave by the authorities. But a smaller group has refused to return.

One of them is 27-year-old Yared Teka from Ethiopia. He said he has no plans to leave and is determined to reach mainland Spain. He said that if he fails, he would rather die trying than give up. Yared explained that before the large crossing, he had spent months hiding in the mountains of Morocco while searching for a way into Europe. Every previous attempt to cross the border had failed because he was stopped by security officers.

When he saw thousands of people rushing across the border last week, he joined them. Now that he has made it into Ceuta, he says he has no reason to go back. Although he has no money and has barely eaten for two days, he still hopes to find work in Madrid and build a better future.

Yared believes Spain’s immigration policies encouraged many migrants to make the dangerous journey. He said that when Spain introduced a plan allowing some undocumented migrants already living in the country to apply for legal residency, many people across North Africa saw it as a chance they could not miss. Like many others, he spent years travelling through different countries in search of an opportunity to reach Europe.

He admitted that life inside the camp is extremely difficult. Food and clean drinking water are limited, and many migrants sleep under trees with little protection from the weather. Yared claimed that aid had become even harder to find and said he believes the authorities want them to leave by making conditions as difficult as possible.

Nearby, hundreds of migrants waited as local residents occasionally arrived with small amounts of bread, but there was never enough for everyone. Many rushed towards any vehicle bringing food, hoping to receive something to eat.

Another migrant, Ahmed Zayda, a Palestinian, said he left Gaza in 2014 and later spent eight years living in Germany after being attracted by Germany’s refugee policy at the time. He said he now hopes Spain will also give people like him a chance, although he complained that police regularly stop migrants who try to enter the town.

A 20-year-old migrant from Cameroon, Jalal Idris, proudly wore an England football shirt with David Beckham’s name on the back. He said it was the same shirt he wore while swimming into Ceuta and believed it had brought him luck.

Meanwhile, life in Ceuta has slowly started returning to normal. Many local people who had stayed indoors during the large border crossing have begun going back to work and reopening businesses. Spanish authorities have also installed a long floating barrier along part of the coastline to stop more migrants from swimming into the city.

However, tensions remain. Around 150 migrants reportedly marched through the streets carrying an injured man wrapped in a blanket, claiming he had been hurt by police. Officers later broke up the protest, and paramedics took the injured man away for treatment.

On the Moroccan side of the border, security has also been strengthened. Police vehicles and soldiers have been deployed to stop more people from attempting the dangerous crossing. Even so, groups of migrants continue to hide in the nearby hills, waiting for another opportunity.

One Sudanese migrant, who had already been returned to Morocco after reaching Ceuta, said he had no intention of giving up. As police officers moved in and the group scattered across the hillside, he shouted that they would meet again in Spain, showing that despite the risks, many are still determined to keep trying.