Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, has given Spain’s central government 30 days to resolve the migration crisis in the North African enclave, threatening to take the case to the country’s highest courts.
Vivas accuses the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of covering up the continuing situation in Ceuta. As DR reports, he said in the first days of August the authorities tried to hide reality by claiming that normality had been restored. He added that almost no action followed to actually achieve normality.
According to El País, Vivas described Ceuta as living in a state of exception. The Spanish newspaper reports that he plans to seek support not only from the judiciary, but also from the Cortes Generales, other regions, the federation of municipalities and European institutions.
If the situation does not change significantly within 30 days, Vivas says he will approach other state institutions. He intends to present his case to the president of the Supreme Court and to the president of the Constitutional Court. Heraldo reports that he wants to tell them Ceuta is in danger, citing what he calls the government’s passivity.
Disputed numbers
The latest figures from the Spanish government say about 72,000 people crossed the border from Morocco into Ceuta at the end of July 2026. The same figures put the number still in the city at roughly 2,000. Vivas rejects that count and says up to 10,000 migrants may remain, with many sleeping in the streets and on the beach, per El País.
Earlier estimates of the arrivals have also varied. Europa Press reported in early August that around 70,000 people entered on 30 and 31 July 2026. The agency also relayed Vivas’s description of the situation as one of maximum risk for security and coexistence in the city.
Vivas belongs to the conservative opposition party Partido Popular. Over the past week he has sharpened his criticism of Sánchez’s handling of the situation, DR reports. According to El Periódico, he called the state response late and insufficient at the end of July.
At that time, local authorities demanded a national emergency declaration, single-command coordination and a temporary border closure. El Periódico and Infobae reported that the Sánchez government rejected those demands. Neither El País nor Heraldo details the legal basis Vivas would use before the two courts.
