The migration crisis that keeps Ceuta under strong political and social pressure enters a new phase after a report from the intelligence unit of the General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) pointed to an operation planned and guided on the ground by Moroccan gendarmes, some in uniform and others in plain clothes, to collapse the border. However, the director general of the Police assured that there is no report that points to Morocco in the massive entry of migrants. Until now, the Government of Pedro Sánchez has insisted on excluding the African nation from any responsibility.

First modification: 09/02/2026 - 19:54 Last modification: 09/02/2026 - 21:26

A report that changes the focus of the crisis. The immigration crisis in Ceuta has acquired a new dimension after learning the content of a report prepared by the National Center for Immigration and Borders (CENIF), an intelligence unit of the General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders of the National Police, and delivered to the National Court within the framework of the open proceedings to determine what happened during the massive entry at the end of July.

According to the document, to which Spanish media have had access, the arrival of tens of thousands of people in Ceuta on July 30 and 31 would not have been a spontaneous migratory movement, but rather a planned process with the aim of "collapsing the system" of border control and reducing Spain's response capacity.

The report attributes this planning and execution to the Moroccan Security Forces and Corps and maintains that the migration dimension would have served as cover for an operation of a different nature. According to their conclusions, Moroccan agents, both uniformed and in plain clothes, would have guided the groups heading towards Spanish territory.

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The information is being examined by the judge of the National Court María Tardón, who is investigating whether the facts may have any criminal relevance and, in particular, whether there are indications of a possible crime against the territorial integrity of the State.

The conclusions of the document do not yet constitute a judicial determination of responsibilities.

The new information increases pressure from the opposition, which is even calling for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Read alsoSánchez denies Morocco's involvement in the Ceuta migration crisis and points to Russia and Israel

A prior alert that reopens the debate

One of the most sensitive elements of the report is the reference to an alert issued by CENIF itself on July 29, one day before the massive entry began.

The information note warned of an “extreme” risk of illegal access to Ceuta and Melilla, both through swimming entries and by jumping over border fences, and noted that these movements could occur in a coordinated manner. The stage was scheduled for July 30.

The existence of this alert once again puts under scrutiny the preparation of the Spanish authorities in the face of a crisis that ended up overwhelming border devices.

The issue has also generated contradictions between members of the Government. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, had stated in Congress that the National Intelligence Center had warned of the risk a day before. The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, had maintained, on the other hand, that there were no reports anticipating a massive entry.

Now, Marlaska himself has demanded explanations from the Director General of the Police, Francisco Pardo, and has asked him to determine how long the force had this information and, if the published information is true, why it was not communicated to the minister or the corresponding national security bodies.

Read alsoSpain approves two draft bills to reform its asylum and immigration laws in the midst of the migration crisis in Ceuta

The Police leadership denies that there is an attribution to Morocco

The reaction of the police leadership has introduced an element of caution regarding the content of the report.

Pardo informed Marlaska that, after meeting with those responsible for the Information and Immigration and Borders units, there is no police report that holds the Moroccan security forces responsible for the “planning or execution” of the entry of some 80,000 people into Ceuta during the last two days of July.

The director general also explained that the judge had ordered the researchers who prepared the document not to inform their superiors about its contents. According to Pardo, only after the magistrate authorized the investigators to communicate the existence of the report was she able to learn their conclusions.

The discrepancy is now one of the central points of the crisis: while the document prepared by the CENIF points directly to the active participation of Moroccan forces, the Police leadership rejects that there can be talk of a police report that formally attributes the planning and execution of the operation to Morocco.

The Government has opted for caution while trying to learn the full content of the document.

“It is time for caution,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, defending that the report must first be known before drawing conclusions.

Read alsoMigration crisis in Ceuta: Spain announces a single command, while trying to prevent "potential diseases"

Several waves to overflow the border

The CENIF analysis maintains that the operation was developed in different phases and with differentiated profiles.

The first wave began before 11:00 on July 30 and was mainly carried out by young men, between 15 and 25 years old, many of them equipped with wetsuits, fins and floats to cross the sea.

Later, between approximately 11:00 and 22:00, the profile changed. Whole families, women and children, came to the beaches, along with people from sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the interpretation included in the report, the combination of profiles would have had a tactical purpose: once the border devices were saturated, the arrival of vulnerable people made it difficult to prevent their entry and forced the Spanish authorities to activate attention and protection mechanisms.

Starting at 10:00 p.m. and during the following day, the predominance of the first profile would have returned, with young people trying to access Spanish territory.

The report includes, according to information disseminated by Spanish media, numerous images of the previous moments and the development of the massive entry.

Read alsoMigration crisis in Ceuta: what is happening and why is the Spanish Government mobilizing the Army?

More than 10,000 people are still trapped in Ceuta

Five weeks after those events, the consequences are still visible in the autonomous city.

Local authorities estimate that more than 10,000 migrants remain in Ceuta, including unaccompanied minors, many of them in makeshift camps or scattered along streets and beaches.

The crisis has provoked almost daily protests by sectors of the local population, who demand a faster response from the central government, the transfer of migrants to other parts of Spain and the return of those who do not have the right to remain in Spanish territory.

Authorities have expanded temporary accommodation capacity from about 500 places to more than 3,400 and have deployed more than 1,600 police officers. Local organizations consider, however, that the measures remain insufficient.

“The response has lacked agility: that is clear,” said Juan Miguel Morales, director of the charity Sur Acoge.

The pressure has also generated episodes of violence. In recent days there have been attacks against an improvised camp on El Trampolín beach and clashes in which Moroccan citizens were arrested after throwing stones and bottles at Army patrols.

The deterioration of the situation has transferred the crisis to national and even European politics. The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), dominated by the opposition Popular Party, called for demonstrations in different Spanish cities to express solidarity with Ceuta and demand a greater response from the Government.

The socialist Executive of Pedro Sánchez has accused the opposition of using a migration emergency politically.

“This is not about defending Ceuta and its inhabitants, but about attacking the Government,” said the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.

At the same time, left-wing organizations and unions have called for alternative mobilizations to denounce the episodes of racism and Islamophobia registered since the massive arrival of migrants.

In Ceuta, even those who demand a more forceful response have tried to distance themselves from the extreme right. Francisco García Segado, president of the Provincial Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Ceuta, has defended that the mobilizations be peaceful and has warned of the risk of groups displaced from the peninsula causing incidents.

A citizen initiative called "For Ceuta", which simultaneously demands respect for the rights of residents and migrants, orderly returns and a reinforcement of security, has gathered nearly 65,000 signatures and claims to have no partisan affiliation.

Read also"You are always afraid": 16 migrants, including girls, report sexual assaults in Ceuta

Morocco, Russia and the battle for narrative

The content of the police report also comes at a time of growing dispute over who was behind the crisis.

The hypothesis of a Moroccan intervention contradicts the recent statements of the Spanish Government, which has rejected that there are indications of Moroccan participation in the organization of the massive entry.

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has instead pointed out Russia, Israel and a so-called "ultra international" for the dissemination of disinformation campaigns designed, according to the Executive, to polarize Spanish society and weaken European cohesion.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has also insisted on the role of Russian networks in amplifying the crisis on digital platforms. Moscow has demanded evidence of this alleged involvement and has rejected the accusations. Israel, for its part, has also denied any involvement.

The publication of the CENIF report may now force the Government to answer a different question: not only who amplified the crisis on the internet, but what exactly happened on the ground at the border and what information Spain had before the massive entry began.

It is a crisis with implications beyond migration. Ceuta occupies a unique position: it is Spanish territory and, therefore, the external border of the European Union, but it is located in North Africa and shares a land border with Morocco.

Therefore, any crisis in the enclave simultaneously has a migration, security, diplomatic and territorial dimension.

The CENIF report adds a fifth dimension: the possibility that the use of migratory flows has been part of a deliberate strategy to test or overwhelm the control mechanisms of a European border.

The document even links, according to published information, the operation with the territorial dispute that Morocco maintains over Ceuta and Melilla, although this hypothesis will have to be accredited by the judicial investigation.

For now, the Spanish authorities face a double task: managing thousands of people who remain in a territory with limited capacity and clarifying why a massive entry of such magnitude could have occurred despite previous alerts.

The answer to both questions will determine not only the immediate future of Ceuta, but also Spain's relationship with Morocco and the European policy of protecting one of its most sensitive borders.

Read also: New front of dispute?: Russia asks Spain for evidence of its alleged involvement in the Ceuta migration crisis

With EFE and local media

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