Spain is to open four temporary accommodation facilities in Ceuta with space for 1,500 migrants, as authorities attempt to ease pressure on the North African territory following the huge influx across the border from Morocco at the end of July.
The announcement came as hundreds of migrants staged a protest on one of Ceuta’s beaches on Sunday, calling on the Spanish authorities to allow them to seek asylum rather than return them to Morocco.
An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 migrants are still in Ceuta following the mass crossing on 30 July, when more than 70,000 people – with some estimates putting the figure above 72,000 – entered the Spanish territory. Most subsequently returned voluntarily to Morocco, but thousands remain. ALSO READ: Morocco stops new mass attempt to reach Ceuta as almost 300 migrants detained.
Ceuta, which has a population of around 80,000, has struggled to accommodate those who stayed. Its existing Temporary Immigrant Stay Centre (CETI) has capacity for just over 500 people, leaving many migrants sleeping outdoors, including on beaches and on the outskirts of the city. ALSO READ: Spain installs sea barrier as Ceuta slowly returns to normality and death toll rises to 72.
Spain’s Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced on Monday that four additional facilities would now be established to provide temporary accommodation.
The sites chosen are the car park at the Loma Colmenar roundabout, the equestrian centre, the former football pitch at the Cavalry barracks and the guano site.
Together, they will provide around 1,500 additional places, effectively tripling Ceuta’s formal migrant reception capacity. However, the new accommodation would still only cater for a proportion of those currently remaining in the territory.
The government hopes moving migrants into the facilities will allow makeshift camps to be cleared, including those established around El Trampolín beach (main image).
A day before the announcement, hundreds of migrants gathered at the popular urban beach to demand a solution to their situation.
Some carried Spanish flags, while banners included messages such as ‘We don’t want to go back to Morocco’ and ‘We are also human’. Protesters also chanted ‘We’re tired’ and ‘We need a solution’.
Many migrants have been living in precarious conditions while hoping either to regularise their situation or eventually travel onwards to mainland Spain and other parts of Europe.
However, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said earlier this week that people who had entered Ceuta irregularly would not be permitted to remain, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, apart from exceptional cases involving extreme vulnerability.
The situation has also placed additional pressure on Ceuta’s public services.
Enrique Roviralta, head of Ceuta’s medical board, told Onda Cero radio that healthcare workers were exhausted and criticised what he regarded as the central government’s slow response to the crisis.
He said cases of infectious diarrhoea and scabies had been appearing, while medical staff were also treating an increasing number of injuries linked to violence, including broken noses and stab wounds.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García, who visited Ceuta on Sunday, rejected claims that the territory’s healthcare system had ‘collapsed’, although she acknowledged that services were under considerable pressure.
‘To associate migration with illness is unjust and xenophobic,’ she told reporters, adding that the risk of epidemic outbreaks was moderate among the migrant population but low for Ceuta’s residents.
The central government has faced criticism from Ceuta’s regional authorities over its handling of the influx.
Ceuta’s regional president, Juan Jesús Vivas, accused Madrid of ‘whitewashing’ the situation and threatened legal action. Saiz, however, insisted that the government had been working ‘from day one’ to deal with the crisis.
She said the response was being carried out ‘within the framework of the law’ and according to the principles of ‘human rights and humanitarian care’, with measures intended to maintain a ‘controlled migration policy’.
Saiz also stressed the need for cooperation between Spain’s different levels of government, saying that ‘cooperation between institutions is essential to restoring normality in Ceuta as soon as possible’.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez held a coordination meeting with ministers by video conference early on Monday to review the response to the crisis, including cooperation with Ceuta’s authorities and other organisations and measures aimed at protecting the safety and welfare of the territory’s population.
It was the second such online meeting chaired by Sánchez since the mass crossing. The first took place on 7 August.
Sánchez is currently on holiday in Lanzarote, something that has itself prompted criticism from Spain’s main opposition party as the government continues to deal with the consequences of one of the largest sudden migrant arrivals Ceuta has experienced.
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Ceuta todavía no ha recuperado la normalidad tras el salto masivo de finales de julio
— Telediarios de TVE (@telediario_tve) August 15, 2026
En la playa del Trampolín siguen acampados cientos de migrantes
💬 @IreneLassoL pic.twitter.com/54DyKUgbPV
Gritos de “¡Dimisón!” y abucheos antes del encuentro de la ministra Elma Saiz con Juan Jesús Vivas en Ceuta https://t.co/YG2YEjFBeX pic.twitter.com/Gasbu22BWK
— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) August 17, 2026
La ministra Elma Saiz anuncia que se van a desplegar en Ceuta varios dispositivos de atención humanitaria de carácter extraordinario y temporal, que supondrán la habilitación «inmediata» de 1.500 nuevas plazas para migrantes.https://t.co/9G0ZGVtZo3 pic.twitter.com/dOdlCXQsFU
— EFE Noticias (@EFEnoticias) August 17, 2026
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