Five hundred migrant girls remain in Ceuta as the Partido Popular (PP) refuses to authorize their transfer to the mainland, blocking an emergency relocation plan. The Ministry of Juventud e Infancia has secured places for them in private centers across Spain, but the PP-led city government has yet to sign the required agreements. Ceuta’s child protection system, already stretched far beyond capacity, is left to manage the crisis alone.
Two weeks ago, the Ministry, led by Sira Rego, announced it had arranged urgent transfers for the minors to facilities that can take 20 to 30 children each. The plan depends on agreements with private organizations. Ceuta officials say they have received no written confirmation of the places and argue that such arrangements are not standard outside existing regional frameworks.
Information from official data cited by RTVE, 233 of the 760 girls in Ceuta’s protection system are under the age of 13.
Official figures show the scale of the problem: Ceuta currently houses 1,711 children and adolescents in facilities built for just 29. The central government estimates the actual number could reach 2,500, with many still unregistered. With a population of only 84,000, the city is struggling to provide basic services, including education and healthcare, to new arrivals.
The Ministry says it has met all legal and logistical requirements. Ceuta’s administration cites Article 18.4 of the Ley de Protección Jurídica del Menor and a 2015 protocol, which it interprets as requiring prior communication and, in some cases, authorization from the receiving region. The Ministry argues that, because Ceuta holds guardianship, it can arrange transfers directly with private entities, as it has done before in the Canary Islands.
Politics lie basic to the deadlock. The PP, which governs Ceuta, has made opposition to accepting unaccompanied minors a basic issue in the current migration debate. The national party’s stance puts pressure on local officials, making it politically risky to approve transfers without broader party backing. With elections approaching, the government in Madrid is wary of public negotiations that could delay a solution as partisan conflict intensifies.
In late August, the Ministry of Juventud e Infancia was working on emergency routing and funding, with €25 million in state support already discussed for Ceuta. Moncloa says the plan involves relocating girls to small-scale centers across several Spanish regions.
Other proposals have emerged. The Ministry suggested bilateral agreements between autonomous communities to speed up transfers and offered to fund the 500 places with money already allocated to Ceuta: €25 million in emergency credit and €62.5 million under a recent royal decree. Those options, too, remain stalled by political and technical disputes.
Ceuta officials have called on other regions to show "co-responsibility" and provide temporary space to keep the minors safe while a long-term solution is found. But the legal process for extraordinary transfers, set out in a 2025 royal decree, is slow and ill-suited to the current emergency. City leaders say the lack of written guarantees from host organizations is a major obstacle. The Ministry insists it has provided all necessary documentation and discussed it in meetings.
Ceuta has faced this kind of isolation before. As previous coverage has shown, the city’s appeals for help have often met political divisions at the national level, leaving it to handle crises on its own.
The standoff exposes the limits of Spain’s migration system when party interests outweigh humanitarian needs. Resources and legal options are available, yet the refusal to move forward reflects a political calculation that puts electoral concerns ahead of children’s welfare. Unless the PP changes its position or the central government finds a way around local resistance, hundreds of girls will remain in overcrowded shelters amid a political stalemate with no clear end in sight.
