Spanish opposition party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, returned to Ceuta yesterday, saying Spain lost control of the border, criticising Pedro Sánchez’s absence, and outlining a seven-point plan to deal with the crisis built on expulsions, a single command structure, and reinforced security.
Feijóo returned to Ceuta for the second time in just over a fortnight, issuing a sharp rebuke of the Government’s handling of the border breach that has left the enclave struggling to regain order.
Speaking at the frontier fence, the Partido Popular leader said Spain had lost control of one of its borders on 30 July and warned that the official response fell well short of the scale of the emergency.
He insisted that every migrant who entered illegally must leave voluntarily or be expelled, describing the mass entry as an invasion in the middle of 2026.
He said Spain would not act under blackmail or threat from Rabat and declared that the Spanish character of Ceuta and Melilla was not negotiable.
He claimed the city’s services were saturated and insecurity was rising, alleging that more than 10,000 people remained in Ceuta, far above the Government’s estimate of 2,500, and called the message of normalisation an insult to the intelligence of residents.
Hospitals, he said, were overwhelmed, with thousands of people wandering the streets without adequate assistance.
The visit sharpened the political divide. Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), has not travelled to Ceuta since the crisis began, a point Feijóo used to project a presidential posture from the opposition benches.
The PP has lodged a Supreme Court challenge over ministers’ refusal to appear in the Senate, noting that some European prime ministers addressed the issue before Spain’s own leader.
Feijóo outlined a seven-point plan: a single command structure; expulsions or voluntary returns; a firm stance on territorial integrity; and the use of all legal and international tools to defend the border.
The package includes reinforced infrastructure, additional personnel, new technology, legal reforms, stronger representation for Ceuta in European and international bodies, and an economic recovery plan.
The PP leader said he returned to Ceuta out of responsibility, accusing the Government of treating the emergency as a simple summer episode and presenting a programme of action for a city he maintains is still far from normality.
In addition, the other main Opposition party, Vox, has proposed a non-legislative measure in which it demands that the Spanish government limits healthcare for illegal immigrants in Ceuta solely to urgent, immediate, and life-threatening cases because of claims that the healthcare system there is close to collapse.
Vox refers to a letter from the president of the Official College of Physicians of Ceuta addressed to the Government warning of a “healthcare disaster” – with an unmanageable surge in healthcare needs since the beginning of the crisis.