Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Ceuta says it cannot cope after estimated 60,000 people entered the city
- Spain’s Pedro Sanchez visits Ceuta, blames the influx on people smugglers manipulating a recent Supreme Court ruling
- Spain’s military sends personnel to assist Guardia Civil border police
- France and Italy say they will temporarily tighten border controls at their frontiers to Spain
- Germany’s Merz calls on Morocco to take back the irregular migrants ‘immediately’
Follow this blog for continuing coverage and updates on the developing situation in Ceuta, Spain’s North African territory.
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Skip next section Merz calls protection of EU’s external border ‘decisive for the fight against illegal migration’07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Merz calls protection of EU’s external border ‘decisive for the fight against illegal migration’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in Berlin on Friday that Spain “wants to and must get the situation in Ceuta back under control as quickly as possible.”
He said that “the protection of the EU’s external borders is decisive for the fight against illegal migration.”
Merz welcomed Spain’s intention to ensure the return of the new arrivals across the border to Morocco.
“We expect Morocco to take back the illegal migrants without delay,” he said.
Although the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are legally part of the Schengen Zone ← in that spending time there typically counts towards things like visa requirements — travel to mainland Spain is only possible via ferry. This means ID or passport checks are at least theoretically required in order to access the rest of the open-border Schengen Zone.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5UoSkip next section MAP: Where is Ceuta?07/31/2026July 31, 2026
MAP: Where is Ceuta?
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5dzSkip next section Spain’s PM Sanchez blames traffickers for spreading false rumors and triggering influx07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Spain’s PM Sanchez blames traffickers for spreading false rumors and triggering influx
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the mass crossings into Ceuta as a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” in comments to reporters in the exclave on Friday.
Sanchez attributed the sudden increase in people seeking to swim around the border to a rumor being spread by human traffickers, deliberately misinterpreting a recent Supreme Court ruling.
A Spanish Supreme Court ruled earlier in July that immediate returns of migrants crossing the border illegally did not apply to those arriving by sea. However, the case pertained to people crossing the Strait of Gibraltar or the Meditereannean Sea, not people swimming around the land border to Ceuta or Melilla to enter Spain “by sea.”
“What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling,” Sanchez said.
Those rumors “spread like wildfire in recent hours,” he added, following the much slower start to the process earlier in the week.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5NVSkip next section Ceuta government head estimates that 60,000 people have entered 07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Ceuta government head estimates that 60,000 people have entered
The head of the regional government in the autonomous city, Juan Jesus Vivas, has told reporters that crowds equivalent to well over half of Ceuta’s population have entered the city.
“Estimates indicated that around 60,000 people have entered our city as a result of this event,” he said. “This figure shows that it is impossible to absorb such pressure. It is absolutely impossible.”
Vivas had on Thursday called on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to declare a national emergency and to deploy military troops to assist with securing the border, issuing this appeal at roughly the same time as much larger crowds started to circumvent the border checks.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5LhSkip next section RECAP — Tens of thousands breach border after days of people swimming into territory07/31/2026July 31, 2026
RECAP — Tens of thousands breach border after days of people swimming into territory
You can catch up on our prior reporting on the issue this week here.
Authorities in Ceuta first started to note an increased number of people trying to swim around the border controls and into the territory earlier this week. But at first people were only coming in comparatively small numbers, reaching an estimated total of 1,500 to 2,000 by Thursday morning.
On Thursday, Ceuta issued a public appeal for help from Spain.
At around the same time, much larger crowds, now estimated to number in the tens of thousands, breached the border and overwhelmed border police.
By Friday morning, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was en route to the exclave of around 85,000 people. Security services estimated that almost 50,000 had gained entry to Ceuta in recent days.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5IDSkip next section Welcome to our updates07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Welcome to our updates
Louis Oelofse Editor
Hi, thanks for joining us as we continue to cover the developments in Spain’s exclave of Ceuta bordering Morocco on the North African coast.
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