The all-formats team of photographer Bernat Armangue, video journalist Renata Brito, chief Madrid correspondent Aritz Parra, photographer Mosa'ab Elshamy, freelance video journalist Houda Benalla and freelance photographer Javier Fergo alertly put AP out front of a burgeoning migration crisis on both sides of the Spain-Morocco border.
A migrant man is comforted by a member of the Spanish Red Cross after coming ashore near the border of Morocco and Spain, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021. The migrant was sent back to Morocco by Spanish security forces.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Migrants, most from Morocco, stand at the shoreline as Spanish security forces cordon off the area at the border of Morocco and Spain, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021. About 6,000 people had crossed the border, many swimming, since the previous morning, including some 1,500 presumed to be teenagers.
AP Photo / Javier Fergo
Spanish security forces direct tear gas at Moroccan and sub-Saharan migrants attempting to cross the border fence into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 19, 2021.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
Migrants arrive at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, near the border of Morocco and Spain, May 19, 2021. Many migrants swam or paddled boats across the border to Spanish soil in Africa.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A man lies on the ground after arriving in Spanish territory at the border of Morocco and Spain, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Javier Fergo
Spanish soldiers expel a migrant from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A man is detained by Spanish soldiers at the border of Morocco and Spain, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Javier Fergo
A man lies at the shoreline as Spanish soldiers cordon off the area at the border of Morocco and Spain, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Javier Fergo
A boy carries his dog while waiting to cross to Ceuta, Spain, from the northern Moroccan town of Fnideq, near the border of Morocco and Spain, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
People walk past barbed wire in the northern Moroccan town of Fnideq on their way to the area at the border of Morocco and Spain, May 18, 2021, as Morocco relaxed its border security. Spanis authorities said that by afternoon, nearly 8,000 people had crossed the border into Cueta, Spain, since the previous morning, many by swimming or paddling boats, including some 2,000 thought to be teenagers.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
People climb a fence in the area at the Spain-Morocco border, outside the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021. Thousands of would-be migrants were converging on the Moroccan border town of Fnideq, part of an extraordinary mass effort to swim or scale barbed-wire fences to get into Spain for a chance at a new life.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
Moroccan boys swim from the Moroccan border town of Fnideq toward the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 19, 2021.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
The body of a young man floats near the border between Morocco and Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta, May 20, 2021. Thousands of migrants jumped, swam or paddled around a border fence to reach Spanish soil after Morocco relaxed its border patrols.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Ceuta residents and migrants pray at the funeral of a Moroccan teenager in the Muslim cemetery in Ceuta, Spain, May 22, 2021. The young man died on May 17 trying to swim across the border from Morocco to Spain’s North Africa enclave together with thousands of other migrants.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Youths clash with Moroccan security forces as they try to cross to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, from Fnideq, Morocco, May 19, 2021. Spain’s north African enclave was experiencing a humanitarian crisis after thousands of migrants who crossed the border from Morocco spent the night sleeping wherever they could find shelter.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
An unaccompanied minor who crossed into Spain hides atop a rooftop in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, at the border between Spain and Morocco, May 19, 2021. Social services for the small city perched on an outcropping in the Mediterranean buckled under the strain after more than 8,000 people crossing into Spanish territory during the previous two days.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Unaccompanied minors who crossed into Spain are gathered outside a warehouse used as temporary shelter, May 19, 2021, as they wait to be tested for COVID-19 in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, near the border of Morocco and Spain.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
People sleep inside a warehouse turned into a makeshift center for migrant minors in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, at the border of Morocco and Spain, May 19, 2021. Spain deployed its military to the Moroccan border Tuesday as thousands of migrants jumped fences or swam onto European soil for the second straight day after Morocco loosened border controls amid a deepening diplomatic spat.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Minors who crossed into Spain from Morocco take shelter inside an abandoned building in Ceuta, May 21, 2021. Spain said it had returned to Morocco over 6,600 of the more than 8,000 migrants who swam or jumped over border fences into one of Spain’s enclaves in North Africa during the week. Social services in Ceuta were dealing with thousands of calls from Moroccan parents looking for their children and trying to speed up family reunions, authorities said.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Children who crossed into Spain from Morocco wait inside a temporary shelter for unaccompanied minors in the enclave of Ceuta, next to the border of Morocco and Spain, May 20, 2021. Security forces clashed well into the night with dozens of mostly young men who had gathered in Fnideq, the Moroccan town across the border, hoping to follow the thousands who reached European soil in previous days.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A boy prays before swimming from the northern Moroccan town of Fnideq, near the Spanish border enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, May 18, 2021.
AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
While much of the world focused on the conflict in Gaza, Parra noticed something unusual on May 17: Dozens of migrants had entered Ceuta, Spain, that morning by swimming from Morocco. Usually, migrants seeking to enter Ceuta — in Spanish territory in North Africa — do so by climbing the border fence in small groups, evading the Moroccan security forces that keep would-be migrants away from the frontier. Parra filed a brief story and flagged it to other formats. Additional reporting confirmed something bigger was brewing, with the Moroccan authorities relaxing border security amid a diplomatic dispute.
The rest of the team quickly responded, capturing riveting images of migrants swimming ashore by the thousands as Spain deployed troops and armored personnel carriers. Video coverage, both live and edited, showed migrants, including children, being rounded up on the beach and immediately returned to Morocco through a border gate by baton-wielding Spanish soldiers. There were also dramatic photos from the Moroccan side of the border, giving AP comprehensive coverage from both sides of the humanitarian crisis.
Play for the story was tremendous. The video edits scored heavily and Armangue’s photos landed on news sites and in newspapers around the world, including in Spain, where the top papers used his photos on the front page two days in a row. His photo of a young migrant hugging a Red Cross volunteer on the beach went viral in social media and became perhaps the most iconic image of the crisis.