Spain asks EU for help processing migrants in Ceuta

Spain asked the European Union on Friday for help processing thousands of migrants who remain in the North African enclave of Ceuta, nearly a month after tens of thousands crossed the border from Morocco.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska sent a request to Beate Gminder, the European Commission’s director general for migration and home affairs, seeking assistance from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, along with an extra 10 Frontex officers to speed up screening efforts.

Authorities say between 5,000 and 8,000 migrants, including unaccompanied children, remain in Ceuta among the roughly 72,000 people who crossed from Morocco on July 30 in a mass border rush that left 82 people dead on the Spanish side, with Morocco confirming 14 more deaths. Spanish authorities must now identify who is entitled to international protection and begin return procedures for those who are not.

The request comes amid rising tensions in Ceuta, where residents have staged a series of protests demanding the migrants leave.

Tents on Trampolín Beach, where many migrants have been camping, were attacked and set on fire, and twelve migrants were arrested on Thursday after stoning an army vehicle, injuring a soldier and four migrants; eleven were subsequently expelled from Ceuta, according to court sources cited by El País.

Beyond Frontex, Spain also asked the EU Asylum Agency to help conduct interviews and provide interpreters, some of which could be carried out remotely given limited space in the enclave, and requested that Frontex’s Operation Minerva, covering the ports of Algeciras, Tarifa and Ceuta, be extended beyond its scheduled end date of September 2.

The appeal follows Madrid’s formal request on Tuesday for more than €32 million in emergency EU funding to manage the crisis, and the creation of a “single command” for Ceuta led by Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres, with a stated priority of returning and repatriating as many people as possible while respecting Spanish law and human rights.

Ceuta and Melilla hold the EU’s only land borders with Africa, operating under a special arrangement within the Schengen zone that requires border checks before travel onward to mainland Spain.

Spanish Inclusion Minister Elma Saiz has also called for aid organisations to be allowed to work safely in the enclave, after protesters blocked a Red Cross truck delivering food for more than two hours on Thursday, an incident she said did not reflect the broader solidarity of Ceuta’s society, even as opposition lawmakers have accused the government of responding inadequately to the crisis.