As debate rages about responsibility for the massive influx of illegal immigrants into Ceuta, a Spanish city on the North African coast, defenders of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s hard-left prime minister, have been stressing the speed with which the would-be migrants left Ceuta. Stop complaining Ceutans! Being swamped for a day is not that bad!
Occasional reports that rather more of the migrants had remained in Ceuta than subsequent “mission accomplished” hosannas suggested were dismissed as disinformation/fake news and so on.
Under the circumstances, it was interesting to read some of the details contained in this new Reuters story:
Hundreds of migrants set up camp on a beach in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta on Monday as local authorities struggled to cope with the thousands still in the tiny territory after a massive border rush last week.
Oh.
To be clear, the vast number (seemingly close to 70,000 people rather than the 50,000 that was originally cited) of those who did cross into the Spanish city (which has a population of around 80,000) have returned to Morocco. Judging by the Reuters report, they did so because they found themselves stuck. While Ceuta is in the EU and the Schengen “free movement” zone, its membership of the latter comes, as the Spanish foreign ministry explains, with a twist:
Ceuta and Melilla are subject to a specific Schengen regime, unique in Europe: Schengen checks are carried out on exit by sea or air, the only two routes available. Therefore, no one can travel from Ceuta or Melilla to mainland Spain without being identified by the National Police at the port or the airport. In addition, ferry operators and airlines are required to verify travel documents. [Emphasis in original.]
That is obviously a major deterrent to illegal migrants wanting to use Ceuta (or Melilla, its twin) as a pathway into the EU, but the idea being put about by Sánchez’s defenders that Ceuta is an impenetrable gateway is untrue.
It is undoubtedly more difficult for illegals to make it from there to the mainland than in the past. Discovering that fact seems to be why so many of the weekend’s intruders went home. Being stuck there was proving difficult. What’s more, many shops were shut, food was expensive, and some locals were reportedly hostile.
From an earlier Reuters report:
Some migrants also accused residents of El Principe, a predominantly Moroccan neighborhood in Ceuta, of attacking or driving them out. Reuters could not verify those accounts.
Meanwhile, Ceuta’s mayor-president said that 3,000 to 5,000 immigrants remained in Ceuta, and that the city’s two migrant reception centers — one for adults and another for minors — had “collapsed.” Ceuta is processing nearly 1,000 minors, who cannot be deported.
And then there’s this (via Reuters):
Reuters video showed scores of migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, lying on the sand of El Trampolin beach. Many were wrapped in towels to shield from the wind, while army and police vehicles patrolled the road behind them.
One of the subtexts to the migration between Morocco and Spain is the increasing flow of sub-Saharan Africans who are using Morocco as a staging post (others choose Morocco as a destination in its own right). Morocco does accommodate some sub-Saharan migrants, but it seems reasonable to think that those of them who tried to flee from Morocco would not be well received back there.
More generally, smuggling networks do exist between Ceuta and the mainland. Not only that, but the number of migrants to Ceuta was already rising this year, although on a scale dwarfed by the recent surge.
InfoMigrants (March 20, 2026):
Since the beginning of the year, migrant arrivals have skyrocketed in Ceuta, [which]. received 1,604 people between January 1 and March 15, compared to 266 during the same period in 2025. The Spanish enclave has thus become the primary entry point for migrants into Spain, ahead of the Canary Islands. . . .
“In recent months, the migratory pressure on Ceuta has been enormous,” Rachid Sbihi, Secretary General of the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) in the city told InfoMigrants. Since the beginning of the year, migrant arrivals have exploded in the enclave, exceeding those recorded in other Spanish territories. Between January 1 and March 15, 1,604 migrants arrived in Ceuta, compared to only 266 during the same period in 2025, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior. This represents a 500 percent increase. The majority of these migrants come from Morocco, Sudan, and Guinea.
At that time the immigrants were held in reception centers for a while, until overcrowding meant that they were sent to the mainland:
On average, migrants stay between one and three months in Ceuta. Every week, Madrid organizes transfers from Ceuta to other Spanish regions to relieve overcrowding in the enclave. That week, 68 migrants were thus sent to the mainland.
Will that happen to the Ceuta holdouts?
Sbihi was asked in March about the help from Madrid to manage the influx:
“We’ve been completely abandoned by the government to manage this influx. We’re demanding additional reinforcements and better equipment, but no one is responding to our requests.”
Pedro Sánchez is what he is.