Nearly two months after the mass arrival in Ceuta, Spain is preparing a new route for handling removals. A draft emergency decree could allow some migrants to return to Morocco before all administrative and judicial appeals have ended. Asylum applications filed during an expulsion case are basic to the plan.
The rules are not in force. The Government is working on a real decreto ley that could give these cases priority and allow returns before the full appeals process is complete.
EFE reported that, since 10 August, 6,791 migrants had voluntarily returned from Ceuta to Morocco and another 318 had been removed under official orders, bringing the total to more than 7,000 returns.
The plan covers citizens of countries the European Union classifies as safe, including Morocco. Officials are already processing returns on a large scale without waiting for the decree to take effect.
Under the draft, the Comisión Interministerial de Asilo could lose its preliminary review. Applicants whose requests are rejected might have only five days to appeal, with their cases given priority. The stated aim is to prevent an asylum request from freezing a return for months.
That would change the position of people who entered the asylum system after arriving in Ceuta. Very few asylum applications from Morocco succeed. Applicants would still go through a separate legal process before their cases were fully settled.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has said people without a right to remain will be returned. Applicants for international protection, he said, will be returned only after their claims have been examined and rejected.
Minors face a separate legal constraint. Euronews reported that children cannot be returned automatically: the Spain-Morocco mechanism requires an individual assessment that considers the child’s best interests. The Spanish Government has warned that immediate returns are not legally possible.
Another disputed idea concerns migrants who leave reception centres. Their applications could be archived, potentially exposing them to expulsion. Open investigations into suspected ill-treatment at some facilities make the consequences of leaving more serious.
The Government is trying to address an operational problem by cutting legal deadlines. The draft could change more than the pace of paperwork: it could determine when an asylum claim halts a removal and how long an applicant has to challenge a rejection.
Officials say processing is already moving faster. Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres has put voluntary returns to Morocco at roughly 150 to 200 a day. He also cited 160 returns over a recent 24-hour period.
The scale of the pressure is disputed. On 21 September, the Spanish Government said more than 3,000 people were still living on the streets. Reports citing central and regional authorities put the number of people remaining in Ceuta at about 9,000 to 13,000. The figures refer to different groups, but help explain why Madrid wants faster procedures for identification and accommodation, alongside returns.
The political fight is spreading. PP and Vox have backed Saturday’s demonstration in Madrid and confirmed they will attend. Sociedad Civil Española is calling the protest. The group says it is promoting an independent citizen initiative demanding elections.
Madrid is also dealing with other public disputes, including a reported home eviction. That case is separate from the migration decree and shows how disputes over government action and the treatment of vulnerable people are competing for attention in the capital.
The draft would shorten appeal deadlines and remove a preliminary institutional review, while prioritizing returns involving nationals of countries the EU deems safe. Its final wording is not settled.
The Government wants the Ceuta response to move faster while asylum procedures are still under way. The proposal could bring a legal and political shift: its focus on speed is likely to draw close scrutiny.
Morocco’s cooperation will also matter. Rabat has publicly indicated it is ready to work with Madrid on the rapid return of migrants from Ceuta. Spain has stressed through its embassy in Morocco that irregular entry into Ceuta or Melilla does not confer a right to remain or travel to mainland Spain, nor does it allow free movement within the European Union.
Those commitments may help returns, but they do not remove the need for asylum safeguards or individual assessments, especially in cases involving minors.
