At least 500 migrant girls will be moved from the North African enclave of Ceuta to mainland Spain following reports of sexual assault. It comes after some 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco in a deadly border surge last month, quickly sparking a humanitarian crisis. Although Spanish authorities say nearly all migrants have returned to Morocco, between 5,000 and 8,000 people have remained in the territory. Around 2,000 of those are registered as minors. Spanish police said that they have recorded 15 sexual assaults in Ceuta since July 15, with the majority of the victims being under age and the assaults mostly occurring on the beach where migrants were concentrated. The country's ministry of youth and childhood said on Wednesday it was drawing up plans to move around 500 girls to the mainland for their safety. The move comes as a massive U-turn for the Spanish government, after it originally said no illegal migrants would be allowed to enter the mainland. The plans have been met with criticism, with far-right political party Vox claiming that the move would pave the way for more migrants to be sent to mainland Spain.Several other politicians have also argued that the girls should be returned to Morocco or other countries where they are from, while Morocco's justice minister Abdellatif Ouahbi said Moroccan children should be returned to their families. At least 500 migrant girls will be moved from the North African enclave of Ceuta to mainland Spain following reports of sexual assault. Pictured: Women and children who crossed from Morocco into Spain father at a makeshift camp in Ceuta Migrant women and children take refuge under tarps and tents in a sports field set up by local residents as an improvised shelter for women and children, following a mass crossing of migrants from Morocco, in the neighboorhood el Principe in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, August 19, 2026 Migrants live under precarious conditions near the CETI (Temporary Immigrant Reception Centre) facilities on August 16, 2026 in Ceuta, SpainMigrant women and girls who remain in Ceuta have been sleeping in the open air along with hundreds of other Moroccan, sub-Saharan and South Asian migrants. Spanish police union SUP has said women who reported assaults had been attended to by police, judicial and health authorities are now being housed in a new centre for sexual assault victims provided by local social services.It has also called for the expansion of Ceuta police's women and families unit and more civilian safety patrols of the makeshift camps.Wafae Atid, a 28-year-old from the northern Moroccan city of Taza who is living in a migrant camp, told Reuters: 'It's really bad ... A lot of guys are trying to attack the girls every night, sometimes just when you go to the toilet. They follow you.'In a statement last week, Ceuta's court authorities confirmed they had processed three cases of sexual assault of migrant women allegedly committed by Moroccan migrants who arrived in the city during the mass influx.Two of the cases involved victims who were minors: one who was allegedly sexually assaulted by penetration and forced to sell drugs, another who was indecently touched.In both cases, the accused men have been jailed on remand, while in a third case, an adult woman alleged that she was indecently assaulted and the judge ordered the alleged assailant's deportation.The deportation of another man who broke into a private home and climbed into the bed of a local woman in his underpants was also ordered on a charge of breaking. Migrants, mainly moroccan, gather in a protest asking for asylum in El Trampolin beach on August 16, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain olice officers escort migrants from the Trampolin beach to a shelter in Ceuta, Spain, 20 August 2026 Moroccan migrant Wafae Atid sits on her inflatable mattress as workers spray water on the road nearby, near the Temporary Immigrant Reception Center (CETI) in Ceuta, Spain, August 16, 2026 Police officers escort migrants from the Trampolin beach to a shelter in Ceuta, Spain, 20 August 2026Spanish Interior Ministry figures for 2024, the latest full year for which data is available, show there were 42 sexual assaults and five rapes reported in Ceuta. This landmass is a third the size of Manhattan and has 84,000 inhabitants.Spain's Interior, Migration and Equality Ministries did not respond to Reuters questions about the allegations of sexual violence and threat.Spain's Health Minister Monica Garcia confirmed that medical services had treated five women for sexual violence, and said the most urgent healthcare challenge was putting a roof over migrants' heads.'The best way to protect women and children is to ensure they are in safe spaces,' she said.On Monday, Migration and Social Security Minister Elma Saiz, also visiting the enclave, said authorities and the Red Cross were distributing 4,000 meals daily along with female hygiene kits, and that temporary reception centres with 1,500 further places were being set up.The government was committed to providing humanitarian attention, she said.Several human rights organisations operating in Ceuta or specialised in sexual violence, including Save the Children, the UN children's agency Unicef and Amnesty International, have warned of the extreme vulnerability of migrant women and particularly girls in Ceuta and called for urgent measures including safe housing and specialist support.'When large volumes of displaced persons are together in overcrowded spaces, these situations of sexual violence arise,' said Lucila Rodriguez-Alarcon, director-general of the PorCausa Foundation, adding it was necessary to segregate toilets and showers by gender and apply the same safety protocols as in refugee camps. Migrants walk at Trampolin beach beach in Ceuta, Spain, 14 August 2026 Migrants sleep in a construction site amid recent mass crossings from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta by land and sea, in Ceuta, Spain, August 7, 2026 Huge numbers of migrants gathered on Benitez beach in Ceuta,SpainAtid said she was unable to sleep at night because she was afraid, instead resting between 7 a.m. and noon in the relative safety of daylight. The women had no access to separate showers, and her periods had stopped with the stress of her situation, she added.Nonetheless, she said she would rather live on the street in Spain than remain in Morocco, which she said she left because her religious family did not accept her lack of belief in Islam.Atid's neighbour at the camp, Dikra Tetouan, 20, crossed into Ceuta with her 17-year-old sister Aya. She said women in their improvised camp faced repeated harassment and sexual assault.'We try to protect ourselves by screaming so that people gather around us,' Tetouan said.Tetouan said police had told the women there was little they could do. Spain's Interior Ministry declined to comment and neither the national police nor Civil Guard immediately responded to requests for comment.