More than two weeks after tens of thousands of illegal migrants stormed the border of the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, thousands of migrants remain in the city, resulting in the area’s once pristine beach being converted into a full-on encampment with dozens of makeshift huts being constructed out of garbage, and prompting warnings of potential disease outbreaks due to the unsanitary conditions.
Late last month, upwards of 80,000 illegal aliens rushed across the border from Morocco into the Spanish-controlled North African territory of Ceuta in the space of just 24 hours, nearly equalling the entire population of the city, which normally stands at around 87,000 people.
While the socialist government in Madrid and the globalist EU Commission in Brussels were quick to claim success in expelling most migrants back across the border — amid outcry from fellow EU member states fearful of the migrant surge landing on their doorstep — thousands have remained without being expelled, over two weeks since the invasion.
A migrant prays and another one rests under a makeshift shelter as they wait to enter a short-stay migrants centre CETI at Trampolin beach in Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave on August 15, 2026. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP via Getty Images)
According to the local El Pueblo de Ceuta, estimates currently place the number of illegals in the city between 5,000 and 8,000. This would include at least 1,898 unaccompanied migrant minors, who have stayed in the exclave in a bid to be granted asylum in Spain, through which they would likely be given the ability to get EU visas for their families. El Mundo noted that the Spanish government only deported eight underage migrants in 2024.
El Pueblo further reported that over the past week, the number of huts on Ceuta’s Trampolín beach ballooned from around 15 last weekend to over 80 by the end of this week. The huts, constructed with reeds from the surrounding coastline and repurposed garbage, are said to hold up to 15 illegals at once.
CEUTA, SPAIN – AUGUST 14: Migrants are seen in an improvised shanty camp in El Trampolin Beach on August 14, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain. (Photo by Adri Salido/Getty Images)
“This transformation makes the beach the most evident reflection of an emergency that, far from disappearing, continues to leave its mark on the Ceuta coastline,” the paper remarked.
Health authorities in the city have warned that the growing “village” on the beach may serve as an incubator for the spread of infectious diseases given the unsanitary state of the camp, which has reportedly resulted in “excrement” on the beach.
Enrique Roviralta, the president of the Ceuta Medical Association, warned this week of potential outbreaks of cholera, tuberculosis, measles, and infectious diarrhoea in the area.
Francisco García Lanzas, of the College of Physicians of Ceuta, said on Thursday that he and some of his colleagues are treating between 300 and 400 patients on the beach every day. He estimated that there are currently around 3,000 mostly sub-Saharan Africans living in the beach camp.
“We must install showers and urinals. These people live on only one meal a day. And if their conditions are not improved, diseases will emerge little by little,” Lanzas said.
Migrants rest under a makeshift shelter as they wait to enter a short-stay migrants centre CETI at Trampolin beach in Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave on August 15, 2026. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP via Getty Images)
Due to the large numbers of migrants overwhelming the infrastructure of the small city, a team from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government will reportedly travel to Ceuta next week to look to establish multiple temporary accommodations to house the thousands of illegals.
Meanwhile, there are also concerns of a potential second wave of illegals, with Morocco arresting 294 people who attempted to cross the border on Saturday and a further 61 who incited people to try to reach the Spanish territory on social media.
In addition to the health risks, the mass influx of mostly young men across the Moroccan border has come with physical danger to residents as well, with at least one migrant being arrested over connections to terrorism so far. There have also been multiple illegals being arrested on suspicion of rape, including against a 10-year-old girl, El Mundo reports.
CEUTA, SPAIN – AUGUST 14: Migrants receive food and aid from the NGO’s in El Trampolin Beach on August 14, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain. (Photo by Adri Salido/Getty Images)
The record-setting migrant invasion last month came in the wake of a Spanish Supreme Court ruling which found that authorities could not push back people who arrive illegally by sea, meaning prospective illegals could simply walk a few feet out into the water on the Moroccan side of the border and come back onto the beach on the Ceuta side of the border and technically have arrived by water.
It also came in the wake of the Socialist government embarking on a mass amnesty campaign to regularise potentially upwards of a million illegals this year, which critics warned would act as a pull factor for further illegal migration.