The Spanish government has confirmed plans to open four new facilities in Ceuta for up to 1,500 migrants, following the mass crossing on 30 and 31 July. Inclusion, Social Security and Migration Minister Elma Saiz announced the plan as pressure mounted to address people sleeping outdoors on the city’s streets and beaches. The scale of the arrivals was disputed from the outset: the central government reported more than 80,000 entries, while Ceuta’s authorities put the figure above 96,000, information from El Confidencial.
Speaking at the Government Delegation in Ceuta, Saiz stressed the need for institutional cooperation. Her announcement followed criticism from Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas over Madrid’s handling of the crisis. Local and national authorities remained divided over how and where to accommodate the new arrivals, as well as how many people were still in the city. Early estimates also differed sharply: Spain’s Interior Ministry put the figure at about 2,000, while Ceuta’s authorities estimated between 8,000 and 11,000.
The four proposed sites include one municipal property, the Embolsamiento parking area in Loma Colmenar, offered by the city government. The central administration provided three locations: the equestrian centre near the Immigration Temporary Stay Centre (CETI), the former football field at the cavalry barracks, and the El Guano area. They were intended for people who entered during the surge and had spent more than two weeks without shelter.
The government said its actions would comply with current legal standards. The central government is responsible for adult migrants, while the city manages unaccompanied minors. The return process and division of responsibilities later became points of dispute. Ceuta’s government said it lacked adequate information and announced plans to challenge the central government before Spain’s Supreme Court.
The response expanded beyond the initial plan for four sites with capacity for 1,500 people. At a 20 October Council of Ministers briefing, Saiz said the central administration had made 7,477 places available in temporary accommodation resources and reported 12,705 returns to Morocco between 10 August and 19 October. The government’s figures included 12,142 voluntary returns and 536 expulsions. A report published on 23 October put accommodation capacity at 8,000 places across the city, with about 6,100 occupied. The figures show how provision changed as temporary sites opened or were reorganized.
According to the central government, operations cleared major coastal settlements at Trampolín, Benítez and Guano and continued in smaller urban encampments. It also reported clearance operations around Poblado Regulares, El Tarajal and the CETI. But the number of people remaining in Ceuta remained contested. The city estimated that about 15,000 migrants might still be there, while Reuters reporting carried by U.S. News described estimates of 7,000 to 8,000 people dispersed across the city. Concerns about outdoor sleeping and reliance on charities and civil-society groups also continued.
The city began relocating girls and teenagers previously sheltered by the El Príncipe neighborhood association, in one of Spain’s most disadvantaged areas. The National Police transferred unaccompanied minors to two refurbished industrial warehouses with a combined capacity of 500 bunk beds.
Negotiations over shelter locations exposed friction between Ceuta and Madrid. Vivas opposed using central urban sites or the port, citing complaints from local residents. The expansion to thousands of temporary places accompanied the initial four-site plan, but accommodation capacity did not resolve disagreements over how many people remained or how returns were being carried out.
Frustration among migrants also grew. On Sunday, dozens of people from the Maghreb refused food provided by the Red Cross and demanded asylum from the central government. Some argued that their legal circumstances differed from those of sub-Saharan migrants, whose countries of origin may affect their chances of receiving asylum. During a sit-in monitored by National Police, the group chanted, “All migrants are equal.”
The debate over housing and processing new arrivals echoes broader tensions in other Spanish regions, where inequality and social integration remain prominent issues. Recent analysis of Barcelona’s metropolitan area has found that diversity is growing while deep divides in income and housing persist, as detailed in this report on urban inequality in Barcelona.
