Spain’s Department of National Security (DSN) has removed from its website two reports on irregular migration published in the fortnight before the mass entry into Ceuta from Morocco.
The documents, dated July 11 and July 17, set out entries across all Spanish frontiers and highlighted the increases recorded at the land crossings of Ceuta and Melilla against the same dates in 2025. Their web addresses remain live but now return the message “access denied”.
Both summarised fortnightly figures compiled by the Interior Ministry. Those figures showed land entries at the two enclaves up 154.8 per cent to June 30 and up 140 per cent to July 15.
Earlier DSN posts on irregular migration flows are still online and freely available to any member of the public. Both deleted items remain indexed by Google, with their opening lines visible in search results.
The department reports to the private office of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. It publishes daily notices on matters judged to have a direct bearing on national security.
The removals coincide with an internal crisis at the DSN following the dismissal of the civil servant who had run its website and social media accounts for eight years. She had posted an alert, while on holiday, estimating that more than 49,000 migrants had entered Ceuta irregularly in 24 hours by way of the El Tarajal breakwater and beach.
The alert described the episode as the worst migration crisis in the city since May 2021. It has also been deleted.
Officials at the Interior Ministry and in the office of Diego Rubio, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, were angered that the DSN had given the figure official status, according to departmental sources quoted in the Spanish press. The director of the department, General Loreto Gutiérrez Hurtado, was pressed to remove the official, who was given 72 hours to clear her desk at Moncloa and left without a post.
Colleagues have declined to take over the communications role. The digital platforms of the department have been dormant since July 31.
Staff said they were indignant and felt exposed, adding that the official had simply published the number the DSN held at the time.
Spanish estimates for July 30 have since ranged from about 50,000 to 72,000 arrivals. The official death toll stands at 72 on the Spanish side of the border and 11 on the Moroccan side.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on August 1 that he had received no warning from the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) before the crossings.
