Tens of thousands of migrants breach Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in north Africa; 34 said dead

CEUTA, Spain — Spain said on Friday that it had reversed a huge rush of migrants into a Spanish enclave in North Africa, with thousands of people who had crossed the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily.

Moroccan forces beat back crowds with batons and tear gas at the gates to Ceuta, trying to prevent more from storming across into the tiny Spanish territory that juts on a spit of sandy land into the Mediterranean from Morocco.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said around 50,000 people had crossed the border since Thursday morning, and estimated that nearly all of them, 48,000, had already turned and gone back.

Juan Jesus Vivas, head of Ceuta’s local government, said as many as 60,000 people had pushed across and 34 had died. Earlier, Spanish authorities had said 19 bodies were found in the water.

The mass storm of the border caused division in Europe, where leaders of fellow EU states called for Spain to ensure that the incident was contained. Right-wing parties around the continent blamed the incident on Spain’s comparatively lax migration policies, including an amnesty granted to hundreds of thousands of unauthorised migrants this year.

Italy suspended its Schengen open-border agreement with Spain. Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police presence on the Spanish border would be quintupled by Saturday, while reinforcing aerial surveillance and patrols on trains.

US President Donald Trump, a longtime critic of Spain’s Socialist-led government, told a cabinet meeting the Ceuta crossings “look like an invasion,” adding: “That same thing’s going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected, except worse,” referring to his country’s upcoming midterm elections in November.

Reuters at the enclave’s border saw Moroccan police in riot gear using tear gas to disperse some of the people amassed near the fences. Water cannon trucks were deployed and the charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen from clashes with the crowds.

On the other side, Spanish military vehicles lined up along sections of the border as dozens of migrants watched from a hilltop in Morocco, unable to cross.

Several hundred people could be seen returning to Morocco through border posts and holes in the fence, with some saying they could not find food or shelter in Ceuta.

“Honestly, I don’t even know why I came, and now I’m going back,” a young Moroccan man, who said he was from Tangier, told Reuters. “I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, even though I brought some money with me … What we’re doing is neither good nor enjoyable.”

Unprecedented scale of crossings

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez travelled to Ceuta on Friday, where he was greeted with insults from protesters. He called the mass crossing “a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty” and said authorities were speeding up the repatriation of those who had entered illegally, with full cooperation from Morocco.

Ceuta and ‌Melilla, Spanish autonomous cities in northern Morocco, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. Both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach ​Europe, but the scale of Thursday’s rush appeared unprecedented.

In a post on X, Spain’s Guardia Civil police association AUGC said there had been too few police in place to monitor the fence during the surge on Thursday, making them unable to stop the rush.

Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres said that among factors contributing to the surge may have been a ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under special rules.

On the Moroccan side of the border, thousands of migrants streamed into the town of Fnideq overnight despite a reinforced deployment of security that foiled most attempts to cross.

Although the crossing appeared blocked, groups moved along the coast seeking routes around the fence.

“I was late,” said Brahim, 32, who gave only one name. He said he had arrived from Tangier hoping to cross through the gate but found it effectively shut. Among those hoping to cross were women and children, from both Morocco and sub-Saharan African countries further south.

European divisions deepen

Migration is one of the most divisive issues in Europe, where far-right parties have been on the rise and much of the political mainstream has backed tougher policies.

Spain’s Socialist government, an outlier to the continental trend of tightening rules, says it remains firm over illegal crossings but that immigrants benefit Spain and help strengthen its fast-growing economy. It offered a mass amnesty that saw hundreds of thousands of people seek legal residency over the past months.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had already issued instructions “to step up checks at the Spanish border immediately.” The ministry did not give further details about how this would change procedures.

EU countries are normally barred from conducting checks at internal frontiers of the bloc’s Schengen zone, though checks can be reimposed temporarily under exceptional circumstances. France has a waiver it has renewed every six months since 2015.

Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was prepared “to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain”.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Spain’s amnesty policy had “encouraged human trafficking”. Spain summoned the Italian ambassador to protest against Tajani’s remarks.

Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate from France’s far-right National Rally, said that if she wins an election next year she would restrict free movement under Schengen to European nationals.

Throngs of people streaming in

Video footage on Thursday showed throngs of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters onto local roads.

While most appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and small children. Some migrants were also attempting to return to Morocco, according to a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press.

Thousands of migrants have streamed into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa from Morocco, prompting local officials to call for help from Spain’s national government in Madrid to restore the border. pic.twitter.com/S2fTWapBzR

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 30, 2026

Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.

To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

Migrants cross into another Spanish enclave

Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa.

There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups.

They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.

Omar Naji of the local branch of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, who regularly monitors migration attempts and helps families identify bodies, told the AP that attempts to cross into Melilla had already been recorded in recent weeks. However, the latest surge appeared to have been driven by the situation in Ceuta.

????BREAKING: An emergency has now been declared in the Spanish city of Ceuta after tens of thousands of illegal migrants break in from Morocco

Pedro Sánchez is REFUSING to deploy the military to defend the borders. ???????? pic.twitter.com/OvtzvEZxBs

— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) July 30, 2026

Like Ceuta, Melilla is a Spanish autonomous city on the North African coast. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.

Migrants often try to enter Melilla by scaling the 19-foot (6-meter) fence separating the enclave from Morocco. In 2022, thousands of sub-Saharan migrants attempted to cross the border that way, and dozens died in one of the deadliest such incidents on the route.

The escalation at the frontier between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small territory, mainly by swimming, on Wednesday.

Ceuta authorities had previously linked the surge to a Spanish Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that barred authorities from immediately returning migrants who arrive by sea without due process. The ruling does not apply to migrants who enter Spain by land, including by climbing over the border fence.

But some activists in Morocco expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of such legal decisions.

Ceuta asks Madrid to declare emergency, send army

Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, had called for the national government to declare an emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.”

He had warned that migrant reception centers were already overwhelmed on Wednesday, with hundreds of people sleeping on the streets. Thousands or even tens of thousands are believed to have arrived since then.

Spain’s Interior Ministry, which tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta in the past few days but said it would publish its next migration report on Monday.

Legislation covering a declaration of national emergencies does not consider migration flows as a risk to national security, according to the ministry, which said government agencies are “coordinating to respond with speed and efficacy to the situation in Ceuta.”

Ceuta, which is perched on a historical isthmus, has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, lives in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa attempt to cross for a better life in Europe.