Spain prepares accommodation for 10,000 migrants in Ceuta as PM vows to 'stabilise the situation by the end of the year'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 13:21 EDT, 15 September 2026 | Updated: 13:21 EDT, 15 September 2026 Spain is preparing accommodation for up to 10,000 migrants in Ceuta as the country's prime minister defended his handling of a mass influx into the city. Pedro Sánchez insisted his government had not mishandled the crisis after 80,000 migrants, mostly young Moroccan men, arrived in the Spanish enclave on July 30 and 31. Speaking to left-leaning television programme El Intermedio on September 14, Sánchez admitted authorities had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of arrivals.'I wouldn't say it was mishandled,' he said. 'What happened is that we couldn't cope with the influx.'He said authorities had taken in the migrants before returning the majority to Morocco, adding that nine in ten had gone back. Sánchez said accommodation for 6,000 people would be available by the end of the week, with capacity eventually rising to 10,000.He said the government hoped to have the situation under control by the end of the year and appealed for patience from residents of Ceuta, which has a population of around 84,000. Pictured: People play football at a settlement in Benitez Beach, created after the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco, in Ceuta, Spain, September 13, 2026 Spain is preparing accommodation for up to 10,000 migrants in Ceuta as the country's prime minister defended his handling of a mass influx into the city. Pictured: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addresses the Congress of DeputiesThe prime minister also faced questions over what his government knew before the influx. Officials initially maintained they had received no advance warning, with the government delegation in Ceuta saying on August 25 that it had no information about what would happen on July 30. But the government later released 40 previously classified communications showing Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI) had warned on July 29 of organised attempts to enter Ceuta by land and sea. One communication referred to a social media call for an attempted mass crossing the following evening, while the CNI also alerted Moroccan intelligence. Sánchez rejected suggestions the messages amounted to a formal warning of what was about to unfold. 'The WhatsApps are not proof that there was an alert, quite the contrary,' he said. He argued that intelligence warnings in Spain are turned into formal reports and passed to senior officials, saying the communications showed Spanish and Moroccan authorities were monitoring the situation but did not anticipate its eventual scale. Sánchez also defended Morocco's actions during the influx, despite at least 141 migrant deaths, and said there was no evidence Rabat had organised or deliberately encouraged the crossings.Meanwhile, Ceuta president Juan Jesús Vivas claimed he had repeatedly warned the government in the days before the influx and said better preparation could have prevented it.Vivas said around 13,000 migrants, including adults and children, remained in the city.He also claimed Sánchez had neither called nor written to him since July 31, when the prime minister visited Ceuta following the mass crossing.Sánchez, who spent 25 days on holiday during August, said he continued working while away. Spanish newspaper ABC reported that his chief of staff spent the month on holiday in Japan, a claim the prime minister's office has not denied.