Fact

On 18 May 2021 Marlaska spoke of a little over 6,000 illegal entries and 2,700 returns

Permanent link https://ceutafacts.org/en/fichas/marlaska-20210518/

At the press conference after the Council of Ministers on 18 May 2021, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said he could not then give a precise, individualized figure. He put at «a little over 6,000» the people who had entered illegally and at 2,700 those already returned by that moment.

• In his opening remarks he said: «I can tell you that 2,700 people have already been returned, I repeat, 2,700 people who have entered our country illegally in recent hours.»
• Asked how many people had entered, he answered: «it is somewhat more, a little over 6,000 people who have entered illegally. Shortly before this press conference I was told that, at that moment, the people returned were 2,700.»
• He added that he could not «give at this moment the precise figure, individualized to the fullest extent». The briefing concerned the situation in Ceuta; the sentence on entries does not by itself say that the figure excludes Melilla.
• These are statements from that hour, not the close of the count. They are not reconciled here with the estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 published by the Interior Ministry in 2023.