Ceuta Braces for Morocco's Election-Day Crossing Call as ~9,000 Migrants Remain, Including Up to 700 Minors on Streets

More than seven weeks after the July 30-31 mass crossing, roughly 9,000 migrants remained in Ceuta as of Sep 22 — about 6,000 housed in government-run facilities and up to 3,000 still on the streets or beaches, including 500-700 unaccompanied minors mixed among roughly 2,000 minors now in shelter services. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said social media calls circulating for a fresh mass crossing on Sep 23, timed to Morocco's legislative elections, did not 'seem to be gaining significant traction,' while Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced reinforced Civil Guard deployments in Ceuta as a precaution. Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres reiterated that minors 'cannot be returned overnight' to Morocco, as roughly 600 family-reunification cases remained stalled awaiting a Moroccan response and opposition-run autonomous communities continued resisting mainland transfers of unaccompanied minors.