Ceuta Debate with Ruben Cober
Original post
Link to the Post
Ah look everyone, the thing that the media and EU experts told you wouldn’t happen is happening! Pedro Sánchez's government is planning the urgent transfer to mainland Spain of 500 migrant girls who arrived in Ceuta, while the EU supports sending the unaccompanied minors back to Morocco.
From yesterday: "The priority now is for the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to keep the situation under control and guarantee the swift return of all those who remain irregularly in Ceuta," European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert said at a press conference.
Spain’s Sánchez’ is the Orbán of the left and his government undermines the EU. Just now, we don’t see mass media and European Commission criticism.
What happened to media reporting about ‘almost all returned to Morocco’, by the way?
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/19/spain-ignores-eu-and-prepares-urgent-transfer-of-500-migrant-girls-from-ceuta-to-mainland
Response
To be clear on "almost all returned to Morocco", that's factually correct. This is not even disputed, it's just true.
Is there a statement from the Commission? Do you want Guardian opinion writers to treat the transfer of 500 migrant girls the same as Orbán sabotaging the support of Ukraine in an existential war?
This whole Ceuta thing has exposed just how dishonest far righters are. 70 000 ILLEGAL FIGHTING-AGE MEN are INVADING EUROPE! Oh, 2 days later ~8,000 remain in an African exclave, many of them women and children? Well they plan to send 500 migrant girls to Mainland Spain so we were basically right all along!
Realistically speaking, the 500 girls transfer is not a consequential decision, I’d argue it’s reasonable on humanitarian grounds, but it’s not a significant political move either way. Trying to portray this as an own in the larger migration debate is just weak.
O1
Yes, there was a statement from the European Commission yesterday, saying it supports the return of minors to Morocco as this is supported by EU law. Here you go. You say it’s ‘not a consequential decision'. Yeah, surely 500 people who entered Spain illegally being transferred to mainland Europe, will have absolutely no further consequence at all! And 8000 illegals on Ceuta is not a problem at all! Move along everyone, nothing to see here.
Just two weeks ago, we read across media, that ´no one would reach mainland Spain´. Well…
You have any proof for the ‘many women and children’ claim by the way or are am I then only one here who actually provides source and you just keep rambling?
More generally, Sanchez´s Spain undermines the EU´s migration policy (among others). I´ve written about it here
R1
I don't want to be mean, but just looking through your account back to August 8th, I could find 10 instances of your "source" being a screenshot of a tweet or of a headline.
Not exactly the most solid ground to lecture others on, but I'll gladly provide a source:
"Most of them were young men, and many have returned to Morocco, but a significant number of women and children also made the crossing. Police and social services say they are scrambling to expand limited reception facilities in Ceuta, and as of Tuesday, 2,168 children have been registered, along with 500 adult asylum applications as of last week."
As for the rest, you're not really responding. On the European Commission, I think it's pretty obvious that I meant a statement in response to the transfer news, since you're saying it's not giving Sánchez enough criticism. You provide a statement they made yesterday. More generally, I made the claim that your response is flawed because of two things:
- You're heavily criticizing the media for "downplaying" what is happening in Ceuta and for being wrong in their predictions. I'd say their predictions have held up almost perfectly, especially if contrasted with the predictions of Alice Weidel or the far-right media. I want to dwell on the point (in fact, I made a whole article on this) that the far-right response to this was insane. All of them were talking about an invasion, basically pretending this was a second Syrian crisis. None of that has held up, and now you're pretending that actually, the ones who got it wrong were the establishment. You base this on 500 girls being transferred to mainland Spain, which invalidates the "no one will reach the mainland" point. I don't even know how many people said this (I always said "no one reached"), but even so, they obviously said it in the context of 72,000 people and the worries about criminal gangs. To pretend this is a huge own is weak.
- If I were to steelman your point, it would be that the transfer of 500 girls incentivizes more illegal migration and will cause problems down the line, thereby undermining EU policy. In a vacuum, maybe, but I believe that 72 people dying and increased border security will be strong counter-motivations to future incidents.
O2
No worries, I provide sources in every note. You can you know, google the headlines. Doesn’t mean they’re not a source…
As you choose to not engage with anything I said but instead choose to intellectually masturbate for your own morality, I’m going to leave you at that. All the best
Disclaimer
I know one of my 10 links doesn't quite fit the bill. That doesn't invalidate my point.