HIBAPRESS – Mohammed Zariouh
Official reports presented by the Spanish government to Parliament, and published by the "Servimedia" agency, have shown a sharp decline in the number of deportations of irregular migrants from the occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla in recent years.
Only four deportations were recorded in each of the two cities during the year 2025, which reflects a significant difference compared to 2019, which saw 172 deportations in Ceuta and 200 in Melilla. On the level of Spain as a whole, official figures reveal a total of 20,682 deportations carried out between 2019 and 2025. The year 2019 was the highest in terms of numbers, as the country recorded 4,677 deportations across Spanish territory. However, the Covid-19 pandemic, which swept the world in 2020, caused a significant decline, with only 1,834 deportations carried out, due to strict restrictions on international travel and the significant impact of the health crisis on administrative procedures. Since the beginning of 2021, a gradual improvement has been observed in deportations at the national level, reaching 3,398 deportations in 2025. But this improvement did not include the occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla, where the number of operations remained at its lowest levels, making 2025 the year of the largest decline in the history of these operations in the two cities. The data collected under the administration of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez highlights the clear gap between the general situation in Spain and the special situation in the occupied cities. Despite Spain partially restoring the pace of deportations before the pandemic, Ceuta and Melilla continued to record a continuous decline, putting 2025 at the forefront of the years that witnessed the lowest levels of deportation.
