The Ministry of the Interior has reported that according to its estimates about 49,000 immigrants have entered Ceuta by sea and land from Morocco in the last 24 hours, according to Reuters, in what is the most serious bilateral migration crisis since 2021. Despite both countries having reinforced security, thousands of people continue trying to cross this Friday and 19 people have died.
The problem has also reached Melilla, the other Spanish enclave in North Africa. The city’s border remains closed due to irregular entry attempts, while the president of Melilla, Juan José Imbroda, has estimated “400 at most” the number of people who crossed irregularly on Thursday.
The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will go to Ceuta this Friday, accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to address the migration crisis. There he will hold a meeting with representatives of the State Security Forces and Corps.
Andalusia expresses “maximum concern” about the situation in Ceuta and asks the Government to “react”
The first vice president of the Andalusian Government, Antonio Sanz, expressed this Friday the “maximum concern” about the situation generated in Ceuta with the massive arrival of migrants and asked the central Government to “react” and attend to the “emergency” requests that the autonomous city is making.
In statements to Canal Sur Radio, collected by Europa Press, Sanz pointed out that what is happening in Ceuta is worrying, as “all limits have been crossed, a faithful reflection that the migration policy” of Pedro Sánchez’s Government is “chaos and a disaster”.
“You cannot play demagogy permanently on immigration,” according to Antonio Sanz, who believes there is a “lack of planning and coordination” and the “responsible” is Pedro Sánchez’s Government, “which unfortunately always plays improvisation and has not known how to react to the national emergency request made by the city of Ceuta”.
Long lines of immigrants at supermarket entrances in Ceuta
Long lines of migrants formed on the morning of this Friday at the entrances of various supermarkets in Ceuta waiting for them to open, which on some occasions led to police intervention due to the influx of people.
In fact, the Police had to disperse their gathering at the doors of a well-known supermarket in the city and then order them in line at the door to avoid disturbances.
On the Promenade of the autonomous city, a large crowd of people who entered from Morocco in recent hours was witnessed, according to Europa Press, who wandered and slept on the streets and even cooled off in municipal fountains. Some neighbors also shouted insults at the immigrants from their balconies.
Images from Ceuta shake the US: “Spain could be heading towards a civil war”
Images of tens of thousands of people illegally crossing from Morocco to Ceuta (and Melilla) this Thursday, by land and sea, have gone around the world, generated the embryo of a diplomatic crisis between Spain and Italy and pushed conservative politicians across the continent to rush out to criticize Pedro Sánchez or call for the closure of the Schengen area. But they have also generated an unexpected impact in the United States, inside and outside Donald Trump’s Government.
Read the full story, by Pablo R. Suanzes
France strengthens border control with Spain
The French Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, said this Friday that controls on the border with Spain will be reinforced and that he is in contact with the Spanish Government due to the crisis of the massive arrival of migrants from Morocco to Ceuta.
“Given the situation observed in the enclave of Ceuta, since last night I have given instructions to immediately reinforce controls on the Spanish border. In addition, I have activated the Rapid Intervention Border Force to carry out thorough checks,” Nuñez said on his X account.
Earlier, in an interview on the RTL radio station, the minister emphasized that he already contacted his Spanish Government counterpart on Thursday and plans to speak with him again today about the evolution of the massive arrivals of migrants to Ceuta trying to cross illegally into Spain.
Asked about the reaction of the Italian Executive, which requested the closure of the Schengen area with Spain this Thursday, Nuñez was moderate and recalled that border controls exist and were even reinforced in recent months, with a mobile force that has been maintained permanently, according to Efe.
Interior estimates 49,000 immigrants have entered Ceuta from Morocco
The Ministry of the Interior has reported that according to its estimates about 49,000 immigrants have entered Ceuta by sea and land from Morocco in the last 24 hours, according to Reuters.
Death toll rises to 19 at Ceuta border with Morocco
The discovery in recent hours of more bodies near the Ceuta border with Morocco has raised the death toll to 19 when they tried to enter by swimming through the Ceuta border crossing, although that number may increase.
Police sources have confirmed to EFE that the 19 deceased were found near the border breakwater, where thousands of people entered from the neighboring country.
The death toll has been progressively increasing, mainly due to the high number of people who tried to enter by swimming early Thursday morning, unlike what happened hours later when those entering did so on foot along the breakwater.
Hundreds of migrants begin returning to Morocco via the border breakwater
Hundreds of migrants who had irregularly entered Ceuta in recent hours have begun returning to Morocco through the same point where they entered, the border breakwater that separates the autonomous city from the neighboring country, according to EFE.
Meanwhile, small groups of people continue entering the city through the same place, crossing paths with those leaving Ceuta heading to Morocco.
Feijóo accuses Government of reacting with “weakness”
The opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has again demanded this Friday that the Government “give the orders” to put into operation the “instruments and means at its disposal” to “defend our national security, our territorial integrity and our coexistence”. “As serious as what is happening is that the Government reacts with this weakness,” he wrote on his social networks.
The PP insists on demanding the Executive declare Ceuta in a “situation of interest for National Security,” as well as a “massive” deployment of resources, including the deployment of Frontex.
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In addition, the ‘populars’ have requested the urgent appearance of the Prime Minister in Congress to explain the situation, while asking for the urgent reform of the Aliens Law to authorize ‘hot returns’ in the face of arrivals by swimming. Reports Paloma H. Matellano.
King Felipe VI has analyzed the migration crisis in Ceuta with Sánchez and Vivas
King Felipe VI held telephone conversations on Thursday night with the Prime Minister and the president of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, with whom he analyzed the migration crisis in the autonomous city. Reports Marina Pina.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN criticizes Spain’s migration policy
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, lashed out this Friday against the Spanish Government’s migration policy, regarding the migration crisis in Ceuta triggered by the massive entry of people through the border with Morocco, while urging Madrid to explain “why it continues to maintain colonial enclaves in Africa”.
“Spain, which never misses an opportunity to lecture Israel, has declared a state of emergency in Ceuta, following the crisis caused by its immigration policy,” Danon said in a social media message, although no such declaration has taken place.
The Spanish Government itself clarified this Thursday that it is not possible to apply the declaration of national emergency due to the migration situation in Ceuta, since the state civil protection regulations do not consider migratory flows as a risk of the National Civil Protection System.
Violent clashes early this morning in the massive attempt to enter Ceuta and Melilla
Hundreds of people protagonized violent clashes early this Friday at the border perimeters during their attempt to access from Morocco to the North African Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
From the Moroccan town of Castillejos, bordering the North African Spanish city of Ceuta, groups of people tried to force the fence and threw stones against the security forces deployed in the area.
Also, near the Beni Nsar border point in Nador, violent clashes occurred between law enforcement and hundreds of young people, many of them minors, who tried to access the Spanish city of Melilla both through the border fence and the port, warned the Nador section of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), according to Efe.
PP and Vox reproach Albares for “confronting” Italy: “It’s a shame”
The PP and Vox have pointed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, for criticizing Giorgia Meloni’s Government and summoning the Italian ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, after the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, proposed closing the Schengen area due to the migration crisis in Ceuta.
In this regard, the vice president of the European People’s Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat, reproached Albares for “confronting” the Italian Government amid the migration crisis in Ceuta, after thousands of migrants entered Spanish territory from Morocco.
“It is a shame that the first ‘tweet’ from Spain’s Foreign Minister in the most serious migration crisis in our history is to confront a partner country rather than explain to citizens what he is doing to regain control of our borders and return the 20,000 illegal immigrants who have invaded our country,” she criticized in a message posted on the social network ‘X’, collected by Europa Press.
The Vox spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Millán, also described it as “absolutely regrettable” that, faced with “an invasion of thousands of Moroccans violating our borders,” Albares’ message against Meloni’s Government is the “only” one “the Foreign Minister has deigned to post all day”. “They are traitors to the homeland and do not deserve the position they hold for one more second,” said the Vox parliamentary spokesperson in a social media post.
Sánchez travels to Ceuta this Friday
Pedro Sánchez will travel this Friday to Ceuta along with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, after the migration crisis unleashed this Thursday. The Prime Minister will move to the Tarajal border to meet with representatives of the State Security Forces and Corps and later participate in a coordination meeting at the Assembly Palace with the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas; the Government delegate, Miguel Ángel Pérez; the heads of the National Police and Civil Guard, as well as the director of the Temporary Stay Center for Immigrants (CETI) and Red Cross officials.
The visit comes after the president assured this Thursday that the Executive is “fully committed” to providing an immediate response to the situation and mobilizing all necessary resources to restore normality, while Spain and Morocco have agreed to strengthen coordination to face migration pressure and speed up the return of those who have entered irregularly.
Imbroda estimates “about 400 at most” migrant entries in Melilla
The migration crisis has also affected Melilla, where the city’s border remains closed. The president, Juan José Imbroda, has estimated “about 400 at most” the irregular entries of migrants that would have occurred this Thursday in the autonomous city.
“According to the information I have, I don’t know if about 300 or 400 at most have managed to enter,” Imbroda said in an interview on the Cope network in which he considered that the autonomous city is experiencing a “sympathy effect” regarding “the dreadful situation in Ceuta,” although he stressed that “it is incomparable”.
In this regard, the Melilla leader explained that attempts have been made in his city both by land, through two border posts, and by sea, through the South Dock. However, highlighting the “exemplary” performance of the Civil Guard and the National and Local Police forces, he asserted that “it has been contained quite well”.
The flow of people entering Ceuta from Morocco continues early in the morning
Many people were still entering Ceuta from Morocco early this morning after a night in which the influx at the border area did not cease, according to Europa Press.
Thousands of immigrants have accessed the autonomous city since this Thursday by swimming and also on foot along the breakwater that separates the autonomous city from Morocco. Police sources specify that more than 20,000 people would have entered Spain.
The Interior Ministry announced that it had agreed with Morocco the return “as soon as possible” of “all” migrants who had entered Ceuta illegally. Meanwhile, military forces have been deployed at the border alongside the Civil Guard and also to guarantee security throughout the autonomous city.
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