Around 1,700 migrants spent their first night at the Port of Ceuta after police began moving them from El Trampolín and Benítez beaches on the morning of 18 September. Reuters reported that authorities had prepared temporary facilities inside the port to relieve pressure on nearby beaches and streets. The accommodation is for emergencies, not a permanent centre.
The transfer has opened a legal front. The Audiencia Nacional admitted a challenge filed by the Sindicato Unificado de Policía. The PSOE has also accused Ceuta president Juan Jesús Vivas of following Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s orders during the migration crisis.
The court has yet to issue a final ruling on the relocation. It admitted the appeal against the Ministry of Transport’s decision to make port land available for migrants who remained on the beaches after the mass entry at the end of July. The launch of the port facility is now under temporary legal uncertainty.
On 13 September, 864 migrants were transferred to a separate temporary shelter in the Los Rosales area. The Ministry of Inclusion and Migration called the operation humanitarian and said it was voluntary. It reported no serious incidents.
Rebeca Torró launched the political attack during the opening of the PSPV-PSOE Political Conference in Alicante. The PSOE’s secretary of Organisation said Vivas had shifted from cooperating with the Government to obstructing its handling of the crisis. She also accused Feijóo of becoming a bad virus infecting Spanish politics and its leaders.
Torró directed her criticism at the PP leadership and the Ceuta government. She asked why Vivas and the PP were competing with Vox while putting their political priorities ahead of Ceuta residents’ interests. She argued that the dispute over the migrant transfer marked a break with Vivas’s earlier cooperation with the central government.
Africanews reported that more than 5,321 migrants had voluntarily returned to Morocco since 10 August. Around 90 had withdrawn asylum requests, while nearly 1,000 were being registered for return.
The Partido Popular has renewed its demand in the Senate for appearances by Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Margarita Robles. It has also called for José Manuel Albares to appear. The ministers responsible for Interior and Defence did not appear in the upper chamber in August to explain the Ceuta crisis. Albares, responsible for Foreign Affairs, also stayed away; the ministers instead gave their explanations in Congress.
The Senate request has added pressure on the Government, placing the port transfer within a broader dispute over who should explain the response to the crisis and which institution should take responsibility. The Sindicato Unificado de Policía is contesting the use of port land. The PP is pressing ministers to appear, while the PSOE is attacking Vivas for opposing the Government’s approach.
Migrants who had been staying on two beaches have moved to temporary accommodation at the port. The court has yet to rule on the appeal, and no further measures have been announced.
