Hundreds Wait Outside a Ceuta Camp Every Morning. A Court Ruling Explains Why.

National Police cleared the entrance to the Loma Colmenar camp in Ceuta on Monday morning after scuffles broke out at the gate. Hundreds had been waiting outside the perimeter for about a week. The camp is full, and has been.

The same thing has played out most mornings for a month. The reason traces back to a Spanish court ruling from 29 June.

Spain’s Aliens Act allows something called rechazo en frontera — return at the border. If someone climbs the fences at Ceuta or Melilla, officers can hand them straight back across to Morocco on the spot: no paperwork, no hearing. In judgment 814/2026, the Supreme Court ruled that this power doesn’t extend to people caught in the water. The logic was narrow — a swimmer rounding a breakwater hasn’t climbed over anything, so the provision doesn’t apply. The case was brought by an Algerian man handed to Morocco in November 2024 after he was picked up swimming toward Ceuta, with no written decision, no lawyer, and no chance to ask for protection.