Spain’s border with Morocco experienced what officials might politely describe as an “irregular migration event” Thursday.
Everyone else would probably call it the border disappearing.
As many as 60,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, the small Spanish territory attached to the northern coast of Africa, during a roughly 24-hour period. The number is equivalent to about 70 percent of Ceuta’s normal population, transforming the normally quiet enclave into Europe’s most overcrowded surprise party.
At least 34 people died during the crossing, according to Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas. Some drowned while attempting to swim around the coastal barriers near Tarajal Beach, while others reportedly died in a stampede at the border fence.
“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Vivas said, demonstrating the traditional government talent for understating something visible from space.
Migrants arrived by swimming, wading around breakwaters, climbing fences and rushing border gates. Most appeared to be young Moroccan men, although women, children and migrants from elsewhere in Africa were also among the crowds.
Some shouted “Viva España!” as they entered, presumably unaware that Spain would soon be deploying soldiers to help escort many of them back out.
The Spanish Interior Ministry estimated that approximately 50,000 people had crossed since Thursday morning. Vivas placed the figure closer to 60,000. Either number represents considerably more people than border authorities had arranged chairs for.
Thousands slept in parks, on sidewalks and wherever else space could be found. Reception centers were overwhelmed, food and shelter were scarce and local Civil Guard representative Rachid Sbihi described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis.”
Spain sent military personnel and additional Civil Guard officers to Ceuta after local officials warned that the frontier had “totally collapsed.”
By Friday, Spanish military vehicles were positioned along portions of the border while Moroccan police in riot gear used tear gas, batons and water cannons to disperse additional crowds attempting to cross. A bus and several cars were reportedly burned during clashes on the Moroccan side.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled to Ceuta, where he was greeted by angry protesters apparently unimpressed by the government’s previous assurances that everything was under control.
Sánchez called the mass crossing “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” and blamed human-smuggling organizations for spreading misleading information and encouraging the rush.
The confusion may have begun with a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling declaring that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla could not automatically be returned without due process.
The decision did not apply to migrants entering by land or climbing the fence. But that distinction apparently did not survive its journey through social media and trafficking networks, where complicated court decisions are traditionally translated into “Everybody go now.”
Sánchez said smugglers had exploited the ruling and used it to convince thousands of people that they could enter Ceuta without being immediately removed.
Human-rights activists in Morocco questioned that explanation, arguing that many of the migrants were unlikely to have been closely monitoring recent developments in Spanish maritime case law.
One Moroccan man who crossed said he came because there were no jobs at home. Another, after discovering that Ceuta had neither sufficient food nor shelter for tens of thousands of unexpected guests, summarized the experience more directly.
“Honestly, I don’t even know why I came,” he told Reuters before returning to Morocco.
Spanish authorities estimated that approximately 25,000 migrants had already gone back voluntarily by Friday as Spain and Morocco accelerated returns.
The crisis rapidly spread beyond Ceuta, because European governments never miss an opportunity to turn somebody else’s emergency into their own political press conference.
France announced increased checks along its border with Spain. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni threatened extraordinary measures, including suspending open-border Schengen arrangements with Spain.
Italy does not share a border with Spain, but it apparently wanted everyone to know that it was watching the situation very sternly from several countries away.
Spain summoned the Italian ambassador after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani accused Madrid’s immigration policies—including a recent legalization program for hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in Spain—of encouraging illegal crossings.
The Spanish government insisted that its legalization program had nothing to do with the Ceuta breach and said the crisis resulted from smugglers misrepresenting the Supreme Court ruling.
Spanish conservatives were unconvinced. Isabel Díaz Ayuso accused Sánchez of allowing Spain to be “invaded through Ceuta,” while Vox leader Santiago Abascal simply called the mass crossing an invasion.
Ceuta and nearby Melilla are Spain’s two autonomous territories on the North African coast and form the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. Spain has controlled Ceuta since 1580, although many Moroccans continue to regard both territories as occupied land.
Ceuta experienced a similar crisis in 2021, when more than 8,000 migrants entered over two days following a diplomatic dispute between Spain and Morocco.
This time, authorities managed to exceed that total before many Europeans had finished breakfast.
By Friday, Moroccan forces appeared to have slowed additional crossings, thousands of migrants were returning and Spain was accelerating expulsions.
The border had technically been restored.
Europe’s argument over whose fault it was, naturally, was just getting started.
