Rabat – Spain’s central government has rejected a request from the authorities in Ceuta to declare a national emergency despite a sharp increase in irregular migrant arrivals that has pushed the Spanish enclave to one of its most severe migration crises since May 2021.
Ceuta’s regional president, Juan Jesús Vivas, called on Madrid to activate the country’s national emergency plan after hundreds of migrants reached the enclave in recent days, many by swimming around the maritime border from Morocco.
Vivas urged the government to deploy additional security forces, increase funding for reception centers, establish a unified command to coordinate operations, and expand facilities for unaccompanied foreign minors, whose numbers have risen sharply amid the latest influx.
The Spanish government, however, rejected the request, arguing that current civil protection legislation does not allow a national emergency to be declared in response to migration flows. Interior Ministry sources said the legal framework governing national emergencies does not classify irregular migration as a civil protection risk and provides no specific mechanism for addressing such situations.
The growing arrivals have overwhelmed the city’s reception infrastructure. Ceuta’s Temporary Migrant Stay Center, designed to accommodate 512 people, is currently housing 727 migrants, most of them Moroccan nationals. With the facility operating beyond capacity, some newly arrived migrants have been forced to sleep outside in makeshift camps made of blankets, cardboard, and plastic sheets while awaiting accommodation.
Read also: Spain, Morocco Agree on Return of Migrants Who Entered Ceuta Irregularly
Authorities are also facing mounting pressure to care for unaccompanied minors, with more than 500 children and teenagers arriving in recent weeks. Officials also reported the arrival of 18 women, an uncommon occurrence in sea crossings to the enclave.
The humanitarian toll has continued to mount. In less than 24 hours, four bodies were recovered from Ceuta’s coastline, bringing the number of bodies found along the enclave’s shores to 31 since the beginning of the year.
The situation has been further complicated by a recent ruling from Spain’s Supreme Court requiring authorities to process each migrant arriving by sea through an individual administrative procedure, effectively preventing the immediate summary returns previously used in some cases.
The ruling requires security forces to identify every migrant, prepare an individual administrative file, provide access to legal representation and interpreters when necessary, and examine any requests for international protection. Spanish police and Civil Guard unions have warned that the new requirements will significantly increase the workload of officers already struggling to cope with the sustained rise in arrivals.
Morocco and Spain have reached an agreement to return all migrants who entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to Morocco, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
“Spain and Morocco agreed on Thursday to strengthen coordination and efforts to address the migration crisis affecting Ceuta, where between 1,500 and 2,000 people have arrived in the last ten days,” EFE reported.
The news outlet said the two countries also pledged to review and implement measures for the handover, as soon as possible, of all those who have entered the Spanish enclave illegally.
