Thousands cross from Morocco into Spain in new migrant crisis

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People gather along the fence at the site of clashes near Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border, on July 31, 2026. Thousands of migrants crossed overnight from Morocco into Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave, a police source said on July 31, adding that it was impossible to estimate how many people in total. A total of 18 people died while attempting to reach the Spanish enclave, the source said. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)

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Thousands of migrants crossed overnight from Morocco into Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave, a police source said on Friday, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was set to arrive to manage the latest migrant crisis on the border.

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In recent days, a total of around 40,000 migrants have crossed into the territory — population 80,000 — the source added.

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The sudden massive influx has sparked a crisis for Spain’s government and prompted France to announce tighter checks on its border with Spain.

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Madrid has sent troops to boost security in Ceuta. Sanchez and his interior minister were due to visit the enclave’s Tarajal border on Friday, the government said.

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AFP reporters have seen hundreds of people — men, women and children — entering Ceuta by swimming around a border barrier with Morocco to enter the Spanish exclave, discarding flotation rings and clothes used in the risky passage.

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So far, 18 people have died attempting to reach the Spanish enclave, the police source said.

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“There was a steady stream of people all night long,” the source said, adding that migrants “continued to arrive overnight and are still arriving” early Friday.

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It was not immediately clear what has prompted the recent surge of migrants from Morocco.

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In 2021, thousands crossed to take advantage of Rabat loosening border controls during a diplomatic dispute with Spain.

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Already the Cueta scenes of the surge in migrants were causing diplomatic fallout.

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Italy on Thursday called for Spain to be suspended from Europe’s open-borders Schengen zone, prompting Spain to summon Italy’s ambassador and accuse Rome of using the crisis for political gain.

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Two top officials within US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday also reiterated their anti-immigration politics using video of Ceuta.

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– ‘Bye Morocco’ –

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Ceuta, a territory of 18.5 square kilometres (seven square miles), and similar enclave Melilla have Europe’s only two land borders with Africa.

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Ebullient migrants on Thursday were walking through the streets of Ceuta, thanking the Spanish police and calling out: “Bye bye Morocco, hello Spain.”

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Police and Civil Guards in Ceuta appeared to do little to intervene, although some officers attempted to direct the arrivals to the local migrant reception centre.

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Morocco’s authorities had not yet issued an official statement on the flow of migrants, but a Moroccan official source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the two countries had spoken about the matter.

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In 2021, more than 10,000 migrants reached Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco over the course of two days, taking advantage of a loosening of border controls by Rabat during a crisis between the two countries.

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That dispute erupted after Spain decided to host the leader of the Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, for medical treatment.

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Polisario guerillas fought a long war with Morocco over independence of the Western Sahara region. Morocco’s neighbour Algeria had supported the Polisario group.

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That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its long-standing policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara– a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algiers.

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Sanchez visited Algiers on July 20 — the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years — marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.

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AFP

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