Spanish authorities have said the majority of those who illegally crossed into Ceuta have already been returned to Morocco.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crossed from Morocco into Spain in a single day, igniting worldwide debates over open-border policies.
Videos and photos of the situation depicted large numbers of mostly young male migrants, cheering and shouting as they illegally crossed by land and sea into Spanish exclave Ceuta on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, overwhelming local authorities and resulting in dozens of deaths.
While local officials urged Madrid to provide assistance and declare a national emergency, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sent troops to help with public security but declined to make the declaration as he visited the exclave on July 31 with other lawmakers.
Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, estimated nearly 60,000 illegal immigrants entered from Morocco. The city’s population is about 83,000.
How It Began
Thousands breached Ceuta’s border with Morocco on July 30, as local officials and police associations begged the Spanish government to declare a national emergency, deploy the army, and fully close the borders.
“We are facing a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency,” said the exclave’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas.
Earlier reports indicated there were about 49,000 sea and land arrivals by the morning of July 31, with 19 deaths. Those numbers increased, with Vivas estimating nearly 60,000 illegal immigrants entered from Morocco and at least 41 died trying to enter Spanish territory.
“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Vivas had told reporters.
Vivas said on the Spanish Radio station Cadena SER that some immigration facilities were operating at 2,400 percent of capacity.
Spain’s national police association, JUPOL, said on X that they warned for days there was not enough police presence in Ceuta at the border.
“We have been publicly warning that the situation in the autonomous city was unsustainable and denouncing the absolute lack of measures on the part of the government. Today, those warnings have been confirmed,” the group said.
Spain’s Guardia Civil police association released similar statements on X, writing that Ceuta was on the brink of collapse and the civil guards were unable to do anything.
“They are entering en masse. … There aren’t enough civil guards to stop that human tide,” the police association said.
Locals in Ceuta told The Epoch Times they are furious over the surge of illegal immigrants and the government’s handling of it. Some held Sánchez directly responsible and reported crimes and incidents allegedly involving individuals who illegally crossed.
Most of the illegal immigrants who The Epoch Times spoke with or saw were quite young and explained they wanted to come to Europe for better economic opportunities. One of them said he hoped to become an MMA fighter.
Spain’s Response
Ahead of his trip to Ceuta, Sánchez, who was joined by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez for his visit, said the government was “fully committed to providing an immediate response to the situation.”
“What has happened is an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity and deserves our most resounding and energetic condemnation,” Sánchez said in a July 31 post on X after his arrival.
While the Spanish government declined to declare a national emergency because it said legislation does not classify migration flows as a risk to national security, it did send 60 soldiers, police reinforcements, a military vessel, and a diving unit to handle nearly 60,000 illegal crossings over about 24 hours.
Sánchez said the government will guarantee the safety of residents in Ceuta and deploy a containment barrier in the sea to “facilitate repatriation at the border, in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.”
Meanwhile, Spain’s right-wing party, Vox, has furthered the criticism of Sánchez and his government, saying the surge in illegal crossings is a direct result of the prime minister’s policies.
“They are not exiles, nor refugees, nor women, nor children; they are all men of military age,” Vox said.
The party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, noted that the illegal immigrants were not fleeing a war or poverty. He called it an invasion.
Vox’s secretary-general and regional lawmaker in Catalonia, Ignacio Garriga, also blamed Sánchez.
“Let us put up the walls and provide the necessary tools so that Ceuta and Melilla can be a real and secure border,” Garriga said. “It is a moral duty and an institutional obligation to the Spaniards who are terrified, have their businesses closed, and fear for their safety.”
By Troy Myers
