Footage and images show scores of people, many of whom appear to be young men, bypassing the Tarajal border fence between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
Juan Jesús Vivas, Ceuta’s President, called the crisis “a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency” on radio station Cadena SER on Thursday and asked that Ceuta be placed under a “national emergency.”
Spain has called in its military to assist law enforcement in Ceuta, Agencia EFE reported. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a social media post, said he has spoken to Vivas and added that his government is working with Moroccan and international authorities “to restore normalcy as soon as possible” in Ceuta. Sánchez traveled to the exclave on Friday.
The city of Ceuta, a peninsular region covering 19.9 sq. km (7.7 sq. mi) on Africa’s northern coast, is one of two Spanish exclaves on the continent, along with Melilla, which is about 220 km (140 mi) southeast. The two Spanish autonomous cities represent the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. Spain has possessed Ceuta, which is separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar, since 1580.
But Morocco, which largely surrounds the two exclaves, still treats them as occupied lands and challenges Spain’s sovereignty, citing history dating back to the Islamic conquests during the 8th century.
What are authorities saying about the spike in migrant crossings?
Thursday’s events did not begin without warning. Vivas, speaking to Cadena SER, said arrivals from across Morocco have overwhelmed the city’s social services and security apparatuses over the past few days, with more than 300 people per day. “To give you an idea of the scale, for the rest of Spain, this is equivalent to 2% of Ceuta’s entire population. It’s like a million people entering Spain irregularly,” Vivas told the broadcaster.
While surges in illegal crossings have happened before in Ceuta, it’s unclear what caused the recent one.
There also are likely economic migrants among the latest surge. According to official statistics, while the Moroccan nationwide unemployment rate fell from 13.3% in 2024 to 13% in 2025, it remains high among Moroccan youth aged 15 to 24 (from 36.7% to 37.2%) and women (from 19.4% to 20.5%).
What has the response been?
Ceuta’s crisis has become an opportunity for Spain’s right wing to attack Prime Minister Sánchez’s leftist, pro-migrant government. In defiance of a trend across European governments that have shifted to the right, Sánchez has planned to give 500,000 undocumented migrants in Spain a path to legal status. More than a million have applied to that program.
The crisis in Ceuta has also prompted a flurry of reactions on social media from other parts of the world.
France, which shares a border with Spain, said that border control measures would be reinforced. “In response to the situation observed in the Ceuta enclave, I gave instructions as of last night to immediately strengthen the controls at the Spanish border,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on social media.
Speaking to conservative media outlet the Daily Wire, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump has long warned Europe what would happen if they continue to implement far-left, globalist policies—including enabling mass migration. Spain and other countries who have adopted this destructive philosophy should immediately reverse course or risk their own demise.”
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