Guardia Civil counts 88,146 people returned to Morocco from Ceuta after July mass entry

The count and what it covers

A Guardia Civil report dated 27 October 2026 and sent to Audiencia Nacional judge María Tardón, who is investigating the events, puts the number of people returned to Morocco from Ceuta at 88,146. The count runs from the mass entry on 30 and 31 July up to 27 October, so it is a figure measured on that date and does not capture later movements. According to a copy seen by EL PAÍS and laSexta, the same report records 862 rescues in Spanish waters by the GEAS underwater activities group and the Maritime Service. It also records 90 deaths on the Spanish side of the border, and ABC reports that the Judicial Police has taken charge of the autopsies and biological samples. Each figure in the report is tied to the date it was measured, so later counts will differ.

A figure above the government's earlier estimate

The Interior Ministry, which ABC says produced the report, gave the judge a returns count that exceeds the entry figure the government used during the crisis. ABC reports that the government spoke at the time of a maximum of 80,000 arrivals, while El Confidencial says the government put the mass entry between 72,000 and 80,000 people. Several outlets frame the new count as contradicting that account. Ceuta's mayor-president, Juan Jesús Vivas, told EL MUNDO that the number could be more than 90,000 people. EL MUNDO also notes that the central government never published a closed total of the people who crossed the border.

Returned to Morocco (up to 27 Oct)88,146

Rescued in Spanish waters862

Deaths on Spanish side90

Returned to Morocco (up to 27 Oct)

88146 people

Rescued in Spanish waters

862 people

Deaths on Spanish side

90 people

Data from the article text

How many remain in the city

Estimates of the people still in Ceuta differ between sources. EL MUNDO reports that the regional government speaks of about 14,000 people, while the National Police estimate about 8,000 adults remain in the city. In its most conservative calculation, the paper counts more than 12,000 people still there, and it adds 3,688 minors housed by the city plus 288 already sent to the Spanish mainland. EL MUNDO says that adding these groups to the 88,146 returns would take the total past 100,000 people, but that total is the paper's own calculation rather than a figure stated in the Guardia Civil report. Because these numbers come from different authorities and different dates, they cannot be merged into a single figure without a new official count.

Deployment and timing

The report also describes the Guardia Civil operation in the city, and ABC says it counted 546 agents still in Ceuta on 19 October. ABC quotes the report on the reinforcement, which it describes as follows.

“Since 30 July, the Guardia Civil has maintained a reinforcement deployment whose composition has been adjusted to operational needs and the corresponding relief rotations.”

According to the same account, the reinforcement drew on the Agrupación de Reserva y Seguridad, units from Andalusia, GEAS, the Grupo de Acción Rápida, the Maritime Service, the Criminalistics Service and the Air Service. The document was delivered to the court handling the case, which is the context in which these figures entered public view. Its cutoff date of 27 October means the court has a count fixed to that day rather than a live total.