Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on October 16 that 12,000 departures from Ceuta recorded since August were lawful, describing them as voluntary returns or departures following judicial or administrative decisions. Estimates of how many migrants remained in the Spanish enclave ranged from about 10,000, information from Spain’s Interior Ministry in September, to as many as 15,000, information from Mayor Juan Jesús Vivas. About 80,000 people crossed from Morocco on July 30 and 31; at least 140 died in what the Associated Press described as the deadliest crisis on the border. Temporary reception centres have 7,477 places, and Ceuta’s protection system has registered 3,019 minors.
At a news conference in Ceuta, Marlaska said the first phase of the emergency operation had concluded. The figure of 12,000 covers departures recorded since August, not a single operation.
Some migrants have told media outlets, including EL PAÍS, that Spanish officers said their departure to Morocco had already been decided. Those accounts surfaced as departures accelerated after police cleared informal settlements. Camps on the beaches of Benítez and El Trampolín were among the sites cleared, and as many as 1,000 people returned in little more than a day. Marlaska rejected allegations of covert collective expulsions.
He said officers from the Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil acted under national and international law. Images showing officers guiding migrants across the border by the arm, he explained, involved people who had freely withdrawn their applications for international protection. Those withdrawals were documented in formal statements, with lawyers present.
More than 400 protection applicants gave up their claims before their administrative cases were completed. The 12,000 departures also include more than 500 expulsions, Marlaska said. He described the other departures as voluntary returns or the result of individual decisions, which could be judicial or administrative.
Several thousand migrants remain outside the temporary centres, including in outlying neighbourhoods and on hillsides. The government’s next phase includes reinforcing police deployments and searching for people who left the cleared sites. Officers will check for the use of another person’s documents or false papers. Operations are also planned on the coasts of Málaga and Cádiz to prevent irregular arrivals to mainland Spain. The crisis has left people in makeshift camps on beaches; others are living near warehouses or on hillsides.
The authorities also plan to speed up return cases and protection requests. The Interior Ministry says it has doubled resources and can process an average of about 100 cases a day. These include asylum applications, though most are return procedures. New modules are expected to let officials handle up to 100 cases each day.
Ceuta, governed by Juan Jesús Vivas of the PP, is responsible for caring for unaccompanied migrant minors. Spanish law requires each case to be considered individually and does not permit the automatic return of all children. The central government has helped provide temporary accommodation and funds for each child’s legal representative. It has also approved more than €90 million in aid for Ceuta.
Local authorities say they lack enough resources to house and protect the children. Marlaska said the government was ready to assess them, while minors were arriving only in small numbers. Vivas has called for a way to return minors to Morocco, citing pressure on the city’s system. Youth Minister Sira Rego said most minors in Ceuta wanted to stay in Spain and would be allowed to do so.
During his visit, Marlaska inspected police facilities at El Tarajal with government delegate David de la Encina. The trip came three days after Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited Ceuta on October 13; their public reception was covered in an earlier report. Felipe VI described the late-July crossing as a violation of Spain’s border and voiced support for Ceuta’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also called for migrants, including minors living in difficult conditions in makeshift camps, to be treated with respect.
