Spain deploys troops to Ceuta after 60,000 migrants enter from Morocco

Spain has sent troops to reinforce the border area of Ceuta after an estimated 60,000 migrants entered the North African enclave from Morocco this week in what authorities described as the largest migration surge in years.

Madrid said it would seek to expel as quickly as possible those who entered the enclave and reinforce the border fence in an effort to halt further mass crossings, after the bodies of 34 migrants who attempted to swim to Ceuta were recovered from the water.

Thousands of migrants were filmed swimming from the Moroccan border towards the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla this week, with some trying to cross by scaling the fence and others by sea.

Ceuta's local regional president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters on Friday that the number of migrants who crossed had gone up to 60,000.

In response, Moroccan authorities deployed water cannons on Thursday evening in an attempt to push people back from the gates on the Moroccan side of the border. Several vehicles were left charred after clashes with police.

Further clashes occurred on Friday, with at least 30 people arrested, according to official statements.

Both cities, home to around 85,000 people, regularly experience surges in attempted crossings as they constitute the European Union's only land borders with Africa. But officials have described this week’s episode as unprecedented.

Medias24, citing an anonymous source, said the two neighbouring countries agreed on Thursday to repatriate all migrants, despite a Supreme Court ruling on 8 July that Spain could not use immediate pushbacks against migrants intercepted at sea while trying to swim into Ceuta or Melilla.

The ruling, introduced by Spain's governing Socialist Party, said the fast-track return rule would only apply where someone had crossed a physical border-control element.

Migration at the centre of EU politics

The crisis in Ceuta has once again placed migration at the centre of political debate in southern Europe, with governments under pressure to project control while managing the humanitarian fallout of large-scale arrivals.

Spanish ministry figures said 14,479 people had entered Spain irregularly this year up to 15 July, underscoring the wider pressure on the country’s border and asylum system.

The episode has also sharpened tensions within the European Union over how to respond to irregular migration, with some governments calling for tougher enforcement and faster removals.

Italy's right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has made curbing Mediterranean crossings a defining feature of her government, said Rome would be ready "to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain," according to remarks reported in the Spanish press.

Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, was also quoted as saying that the images from Ceuta showed how Madrid's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to more than 500,000 "irregular immigrants" was "profoundly wrong" and risked encouraging human trafficking.

His comments appeared to refer to the government's broader regularisation policy, which critics have portrayed as a security risk, while supporters argue that migration is essential to sustaining the economy and labour market.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived to Ceuta on Friday alongside Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, as the government seeks to reassure both local authorities and the public that the situation is under control.

Their visit is likely to focus on border reinforcement, coordination with Moroccan authorities, and the management of arrivals already inside the enclave.