Spain’s government is preparing to expand migrant housing capacity in the Ceuta exclave to accommodate up to 10,000 people, according to the Spanish newspaper ABC — a figure that directly contradicts the Sánchez government’s own recent claims about the scale of the crisis.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told the public last month that only around 5,000 illegal aliens remained in Ceuta following the July border storming, when an estimated 70,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the small Spanish city. The new housing plans suggest the real number is nearly double what officials admitted.
La Moncloa is reportedly moving within the next month to build out accommodation for the 10,000 figure. That number is separate from the 2,000 beds already set aside for unaccompanied minors, many of whom were left behind by families betting on the fact that minors have better odds of winning refugee status.
ABC reported that the government wants the new housing built “sufficiently far” from the city center, an apparent attempt to restore some appearance of normal life in a city of 87,000 people whose population has swelled by more than 10 percent since the invasion.
Nearly all of the migrants are pursuing asylum claims, which under EU regulations must be assessed individually — a process that guarantees the crisis will stretch well into next year. Spain’s Ministry of Migration reportedly expects at least 6,000 migrants to still be in Ceuta at the start of 2027, even though many are not expected to qualify.
Until their cases are decided, asylum claimants are entitled to free housing, food and healthcare — benefits ABC noted many migrants are using regardless of their odds of ultimately winning status.
Healthcare System Buckling
Ceuta’s healthcare system, already strained by the sheer number of migrants, is now facing a strike. The Cemsatse union, which represents the city’s doctors and nurses, has called for a walkout starting September 24th, citing what it says has been silence from Madrid’s Ministry of Health.
The planned strike puts Spanish Health Minister Mónica García on the spot. García has insisted the migrant surge has not pushed Ceuta’s healthcare infrastructure to the brink — and previously called it “xenophobic” to suggest migrants had brought disease into the city, this despite confirmed cases of tuberculosis and other infectious illnesses among the migrant population.
Questions Over Morocco’s Role
Former Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya said this week that the July invasion may have been a “hybrid attack” orchestrated by Morocco’s government, describing it as part of a “neo-imperialist” push by Rabat to eventually reclaim Ceuta, which Spain has controlled for centuries.
Her comments follow a Spanish National Police report alleging that Moroccan state agents, both uniformed and undercover, were seen directing migrants toward border crossing points on July 30th, the day of the invasion. Morocco has denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, thousands of migrants remain camped in ramshackle tents made of reeds and garbage on Ceuta’s Trampolin Beach, a visible reminder that the crisis Madrid claimed was winding down is, by its own new housing plans, far from over.
