Thousands of migrants climbed over a border fence or swam onto the shores of Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta on Thursday, prompting a mobilization of the Spanish military and fueling political tensions on the Spanish mainland.
In recent days, 1,500 migrants had entered Ceuta, a six-mile-long peninsula on Morocco’s northern coast that Spain has governed for centuries, according to the area’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas. At least 18 people have died attempting to enter the territory, a spokesman for the Spanish government said on Thursday.
A map locating Ceuta, Spain. A territory on the northern tip of Morocco.
The arrivals were so numerous — and the potential political and security ramifications so serious — that the Spanish government on Thursday evening said that it had mobilized its armed forces to reinforce the police in Ceuta. It said in a statement that it was dispatching military platoons to enforce border security, increasing air and naval support, and sending diving teams to patrol the waters. The European Union offered to send Spain support from Frontex, its border and Coast Guard agency, to reestablish order.
“We are in a situation of total humanitarian and social emergency,” Mr. Vivas told a Spanish radio station on Thursday.
On Thursday evening, the Ceuta government added in a statement that “this is an unprecedented situation that is testing our institutional response capacity and causing profound concern among the entire citizenry.” Fernando Rodríguez Contreras, an official in the government, said the working estimate for the number of people who had crossed was in the tens of thousands, though that figure could not be confirmed.
Migration at Ceuta, and at Melilla, another autonomous Spanish city in North Africa, has long been a point of tension between Morocco and Spain. The two areas constitute the European Union’s sole land border with Africa, and can draw large numbers of young men and other migrants seeking to enter the bloc. More than 10,000 people came over the border in two days in 2021, when the migration crisis reached its peak. In 2022, at least 23 migrants died in a stampede during an attempted mass crossing in Melilla. Many others have died at sea.
It was unclear on Thursday evening what had prompted the latest amassing of people in Ceuta. Analysts said it was too soon to draw conclusions but that Morocco, which controls migration flows across the border, may have been upset about Spain’s recent effort to deepen ties with Algeria. Right-wing critics blamed the Spanish government’s new plan to give undocumented migrants already in the country a path to legal status for attracting illegal arrivals.
What is clear is that the border, on the African mainland, has also been a major source of domestic political tension for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — both with anti-immigrant and conservative political opponents who accuse him of being lax on border control as well as pro-immigrant advocates who criticize the government for harsh immigration enforcement tactics.
Unlike the United States and some European neighbors defined by tough immigration stances, Spain’s left-wing government has projected an image of itself as the West’s new melting pot. It has embraced immigrants, especially Latin Americans who speak Spain’s language, share its religion and understand its culture. Some activists have argued that the warm welcome doesn’t extend to many Africans, and that Spain has a complicated historical relationship with Morocco, which accounts for the largest number of legal immigrants to Spain.
But the government made clear on Thursday that the high volume of illegal crossings was not part of its vision.
“The Spanish government is fully committed to providing an immediate response to the situation in Ceuta,” Mr. Sánchez wrote on social media on Thursday, as Spanish television stations broadcast footage of overwhelmed Spanish authorities watching as thousands of excited migrants streamed by.
The right-wing opposition seized the moment.
“This is an invasion,” said Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right party Vox, who accused Mr. Sánchez’s government of purposefully inviting in the migrants, who he suggested, without evidence, were criminals and rapists and potential left-wing voters.
The leading opposition party took a more measured tone but called on Mr. Sánchez to declare a national emergency.
“The situation in Ceuta is desperate,” said Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who leads the conservative Popular Party. “The government cannot shirk its responsibilities.”
Spain, eager to keep good relations with Morocco, in part to maintain its cooperation in deterring migrant arrivals, has downplayed criticism of the Moroccan government, saying that Morocco is helping prevent more people from entering Spanish territory. The Spanish government also said in a statement that it was directing more resources to the border, where the overwhelmed Spanish police and emergency services had been forced to focus only on treating those injured during the crossing.
Mr. Vivas, the Ceuta president, said the area’s reception centers and facilities for unaccompanied minors were overflowing.
Spain’s interior ministry said human-smuggling networks were seizing on a recent Supreme Court decision to encourage migrants to try to enter Europe through Spain. That decision barred the summary return of migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach the Spanish territories.
Spanish news media reports from Ceuta described some of those who had successfully completed the sea crossing as exhausted from the journey and near death, but others as jubilant, cheering “Long live Spain!” as they tossed flip-flops in the air or knelt to kiss Spanish soil.
But the footage of thousands of people, the vast majority of them young men, walking unencumbered onto Spanish territory touched a nerve for some in Spain and throughout Europe.
“The protection of the Union’s external borders is a crucial part of our efforts to fight illegal migration,” Magnus Brunner, the European Union’s commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, wrote on social media. “We are in contact with the relevant authorities on the evolving situation in Ceuta.”
Carlos Barragán contributed reporting from Madrid
