This organised invasion of mainly military-aged invaders from Morocco over the past few days took authorities by surprise.
Many simply took to the water and swam across the edge of the narrow Strait of Gibraltar into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta along the coastal maritime border near the Tarajal and Benzú breakwaters.
The surge has triggered political tensions across Europe with France announcing tighter checks at its border and Spain and Italy threatening new measures to curb migration, including calls by senior politicians to suspend Spain from the Schengen free-travel area.
The migrant surge has intensified pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez before next year’s elections as opposition parties accuse his government of failing to control Spain’s borders.
People’s Party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on X: “The situation in Ceuta is desperate. The government cannot look the other way … because we are facing a national security crisis.”
Earlier on Thursday, Ceuta’s mayor, Juan Jesus Vivas, also of the People’s Party, called on Madrid to declare a state of emergency.
Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, described the crossings as “an invasion” and blamed Sanchez’s government.
Meanwhile, other European countries have voiced their own concerns. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The images coming from Ceuta are unacceptable. We cannot allow anyone to come to our union without abiding by our rules. Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled, and returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”
France announced tighter controls on its border with Spain. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had “given instructions to immediately step up controls at the Spanish border” and activated rapid intervention border units to carry out more intensive inspections.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government was prepared to take “extraordinary measures” if necessary.
“Italy will not stand by and watch,” she said. “We are convening the relevant bodies, and following these meetings, we are prepared to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain.
“On illegal immigration, we will not yield an inch: Defending the borders, stopping human traffickers and ensuring effective repatriations will continue to be the line of this government.”
Antonio Tajani, Italian deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, went a step further, calling for “closing the Schengen Area to Spain”.
However, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said such a move would not be legally possible. “Under EU law, no Member State can unilaterally suspend another’s participation in Schengen,” he wrote on X.
“That option simply does not exist in the legal architecture of the Union.”
Borrell said the episode illustrated how some European governments were increasingly invoking EU law in ways that were “in manifest breach of the principle of loyal cooperation that binds them”.
“It is quite revealing of how EU governments are learning to understand, talk, use and abuse the EU’s legal order,” he said.
