Spain’s prime minister blamed trafficking gangs after an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this week in one of the largest border surges Europe has seen, with at least 57 people dead, according to local media.
Pedro Sanchez called the influx a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” during a visit to Ceuta on Friday and said criminal networks had seized on a recent Supreme Court ruling. “What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling” that “spread like wildfire,” Sanchez said.
Officials said more than 48,000 of the roughly 50,000 people who entered had voluntarily returned to Morocco by Friday evening. Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesus Vivas, said the arrivals equaled about 70 percent of the city’s population of 83,600. Spain’s Interior Ministry estimated 50,000 arrivals since the early hours of Thursday, while other officials cited up to 60,000. At least 7,000 of those who crossed in the final 24 hours were minors, officials estimated.
The surge followed a ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned to Morocco. The government said smuggling networks misread the ruling as an open door and spread the message on social media, prompting thousands to attempt the crossing from beaches south of the border fence.
Spain has deployed its armed forces to bolster security in Ceuta and at Melilla, where 300 to 400 crossings were also reported overnight. Sanchez said Madrid would look at reinforcing the border with Morocco, and that Moroccan authorities were cooperating with the return of those who entered illegally.
The crisis has fractured the EU’s response. Italy suspended the Schengen border-free arrangement with Spain, which in practice means extra checks on flights between the two countries. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the images from Ceuta “shocking” and said “uncontrolled immigration” was a security threat to Europe, remarks Spain’s foreign minister called improper for a partner country. Czechia’s prime minister also demanded Spain’s exclusion from Schengen, and the European Commission said migrants in Ceuta cannot move on to mainland Europe.
Residents described fear and chaos. Carmen Gonzalez Bermudez told the BBC she saw “thousands and thousands of people in swimming costumes and all wet, just coming from the sea.” Another resident, Victor Ortiz Sotomayor, said the city was “packed with immigrants, in every square and street, mainly looking for food.” One man returning to Morocco told Reuters: “People are dying here. I beg you, please, if you haven’t come yet, don’t come.”
Ceuta and Melilla form the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, and both are coveted by Morocco. UN data cited by the BBC showed 2,826 people had crossed into Ceuta up to 15 July this year, already far above the 994 recorded in all of 2025, 476 in 2024 and 467 in 2023. The current surge dwarfs the smaller mass crossing of May 2021 and has revived debate over the bloc’s migration rules at the height of the summer season.
The episode is testing Schengen solidarity and the EU’s relationship with Morocco, a key partner on migration control. With tens of thousands of arrivals in a single week and member states openly split over border policy, Brussels faces renewed pressure to agree a common response before the crisis spreads further.
Sources: BBC News, Politico, Deutsche Welle, Euronews
Author: Europe Desk
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