Spanish security forces have installed a 500-metre floating barrier in the waters off the Tarajal border between Ceuta and Castillejos, signaling a shift in Spain’s approach to irregular migration at its North African enclave. The Ministry of the Interior deployed it early Saturday to prevent people from swimming into Ceuta and allow immediate returns to Morocco. Its installation comes amid a legal dispute over how Spain’s immigration law applies to people intercepted at sea.
In a ruling issued on 29 June, the Supreme Court’s Administrative Chamber considered the case of an Algerian national intercepted while swimming near Ceuta in 2024. The court held that people arriving by sea cannot automatically be returned under the “rejection at the border” procedure because they have not crossed a physical border barrier. Instead, the ordinary immigration procedure applies, with access to legal assistance and an interpreter, and the chance to seek international protection. The court left open whether maritime “elements of containment” could change how such crossings are legally classified.
The barrier consists of a pneumatic structure floating on the water’s surface, with a visible height ranging from 30 to 70 centimetres and a submerged section reaching up to one metre. Anchored buoys provided by the Spanish Navy reinforce the installation, while maritime units from Salvamento Marítimo, the Guardia Civil and the Moroccan Royal Navy support it. Police sources and on-site observations indicate that the measures have reduced attempted crossings, with only sporadic incidents reported since deployment.
Legal and operational questions around maritime containment were already under discussion before the late-July influx. On 28 July, Spain’s Interior Ministry reportedly asked the Supreme Court whether buoys marking the maritime frontier could count as a “means of containment” and whether the concept could also cover Guardia Civil vessels. Officials were also considering buildings at Tarajal for use as a temporary foreign-national reception centre, or CATE. The facility was reportedly activated at the end of August, with plans covering reception and processing capacity alongside border demarcation.
Separate measures have produced markedly different accounts of the scale of arrivals. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights attributed to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska the figure of more than 72,000 people entering Ceuta irregularly from Morocco on 30 July. Ceuta President Juan Vivas later estimated that 15,000 to 17,000 people remained in the city after the arrivals of 30 and 31 July. The figures refer to different claims and categories. Vivas also cited approximately 12,000 voluntary returns after a unified command was activated on 25 August, while calling for the immediate expansion of the border breakwaters at Tarajal and Benzú.
Frontex figures reported by Europa Press recorded 18,260 irregular crossings to Spain via the Strait route through September 2026, a 26% increase for that route. The agency’s route total excluded the mass arrivals in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, leaving that episode out of the figures. Separately, a Spanish government statement published on 20 October said that more than 12,700 people had returned to Morocco between 10 August and 20 October. The government also said most adult migrants remaining in Ceuta were housed in facilities provided by the General State Administration.
Spain’s immigration law allows authorities to reject foreign nationals detected while trying to overcome border containment elements in Ceuta or Melilla. The Supreme Court distinguished crossing such a barrier from arriving by sea without crossing one. The government’s maritime measure is intended to address that distinction. Officials say the barrier enables immediate returns of people intercepted at sea without violating the court’s restrictions. Installation began at 7:50 a.m. on Saturday, and authorities report no successful irregular entries since then, with Moroccan forces intercepting people attempting to cross by water. The move follows Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s announcement of plans to reinforce the border.
The opposition has sharply criticized the measure. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Partido Popular, called the floating barrier “ridiculous” and questioned why such steps were not taken earlier. The debate over border security in Ceuta has intensified amid earlier mass crossings and political tensions. For further background on the political fallout from previous border incidents, see this analysis of government and opposition responses: how the Ceuta border crisis sparked criticism of government action.
Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s two enclaves in North Africa, have long been focal points for migration from Morocco and beyond. Physical barriers on land and at sea reflect ongoing efforts to control irregular entries while meeting legal and humanitarian obligations at the EU’s southern border. The new barrier is one part of a broader response that also includes returns and centralized coordination, alongside reception facilities.
