Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Ceuta estimated 60,000 people entered the city, at least 57 died in the attempt
- Italy temporarily suspends Schengen free-travel pact with Spain
- PM Pedro Sanchez visited Ceuta, blamed the influx on people smugglers manipulating a recent Supreme Court ruling
- Spain’s military sends personnel to assist Guardia Civil border police
- Germany’s Merz calls on Morocco to take back the irregular migrants ‘without delay’
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 Italy temporarily suspends Schengen free-travel pact with Spain07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Italy temporarily suspends Schengen free-travel pact with Spain
Italy has suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain for one month, in response to the influx of migrants into Ceuta, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Friday.
“The temporary suspension of Schengen with Spain is a necessary decision to protect the security of our citizens and defend Europe’s borders,” Tajani wrote on X.
Italy’s interior ministry told AFP news agency that while Italy had closed its maritime and air entry points to Spain, it cautioned that travel for Spanish and European citizens to Italy would not be impacted.
AFP reported that any checks at air and sea borders with Spain would be “targeted” and concern only non-EU citizens arriving from Spain.
The measure will reportedly remain in force for one month beginning on Saturday, the Interior Ministry said.
Tajani said the the temporary measure to suspend Schengen was “provided for by the treaties and, today, rendered unavoidable.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6fOSkip next section Spain says most migrants have returned to Morocco07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Spain says most migrants have returned to Morocco
Spain’s government said that and estimated that 48,300 migrants had returned to Morocco by 6 p.m. local time (4 p.m UTC) on Friday. The figures would mean that most of the 60,000 migrants estimated to have breached the border into Ceuta have already left.
According to Reuters news agency, several hundred people could be seen voluntarily making their way back to Morocco through border posts and holes in the fence. Some of them reportedly they were unable to find food or shelter in Ceuta.
Moroccan police in riot gear used tear gas to disperse some of those were still gathering near the border fences, according to Reuters.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5I6joSkip next section Germany to extend border controls after Ceuta breach07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Germany to extend border controls after Ceuta breach
German Interior Alexander Dobrindt said Berlin intends to reinforce and extend checks at Germany’s borders in view of the situation developing in Ceuta.
“We will extend the possibility of internal checks beyond September,” Dobrindt said.
Germany reintroduced some border checks within the Schengen zone on September 16, 2024, with Berlin citing the need to curb the number of unauthorized entries.
Since then, authorities have been carrying out checks at the borders with Denmark, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
The Schengen area is intended to be a zone free of regular border checks.
Despite growing criticism, the measure has been extended three times. It was extended most recently until mid-September 2026.
“The situation in Ceuta highlights the volatile nature of the illegal migration crisis,” Dobrindt said, explaining the latest extension.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5I6dpSkip next section Denmark says EU should consider suspending Spain from Schengen07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Denmark says EU should consider suspending Spain from Schengen
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement on social media that “the EU must immediately take all necessary measures and consider all options, including a suspension of Schengen cooperation.”
Frederiksen expressed her rejection of the scenes from Ceuta, saying that her government would not accept a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis.
“Uncontrolled immigration is a threat to Europe. And to Denmark,” she wrote.
Frederiksen said she had spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also slammed Spain for the crisis in Ceuta, adding that the two leaders planned to discuss the situation.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6doSkip next section Authorities revise death toll to 5707/31/2026July 31, 2026
Authorities revise death toll to 57
The Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta said on Friday evening that authorities had since recovered 57 bodies on the Spanish side of the border.
This increased a previous tally of at least 34 dead.
It cautioned that further casualties were possible on the Moroccan side.
Some drowned and others were crushed in a stampede trying to cross a breakwater near a border checkpoint.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6XtSkip next section ‘Not the time to divide’ — Sanchez07/31/2026July 31, 2026
‘Not the time to divide’ — Sanchez
Without singling anyone out by name, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez seemed to issue a response to critics including Italy’s government and right-wing politicians across much of Europe on Friday evening.
“Solidarity and empathy are optional. Respect for European treaties and data is not,” Sanchez wrote on X.
He then listed statistics from the EU’s Frontex border enforcement agency on irregular migration between 2021 and 2026. This showed the largest number of arrivals, 478,600, from Italy, with 340,600 from the member states in the Western Balkans, 259,800 from Greece and then 234,760 via Spain.
“This is not the time to divide. It is the time to continue building a strong and united EU,” Sanchez wrote.
Frontex data for 2025 specifically also showed the Western Mediterranean crossing route to Spain as a much smaller route for irregular migration than crossings to Italy. However, it was also the only major route listed where Frontex recorded a year-on-year increase rather than a reduction.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6OUSkip next section US State Department lays blame with Spain, Trump draws Mexico parallel07/31/2026July 31, 2026
US State Department lays blame with Spain, Trump draws Mexico parallel
The US State Department issued a statement saying it stood with “the people of Spain, and all Europeans, against this egregious violation of their sovereignty and human rights.”
It seemed to link developments to a decision months ago by Sanchez’s government to offer and amnesty and temporary residency permits to irregular migrants already living in Spain. That’s despite the fact that no new arrivals in Spain after it came into effect will be eligible to benefit, and Pedro Sanchez citing a different motivating factor.
“This unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe,” the State Department said of its NATO ally. “We are considereing actions to defend Americans at home and abroad from this threat and stand ready to assist other European allies considering similar options.”
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, seemed to seek to equate the issue to the US border with Mexico and domestic elections in an interview with Fox News.
“It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,” Fox quoted him as saying.
Trump and Sanchez’s governemnts have clashed repeatedly in recent months over the war in Iran and relations with Israel, among other issues.
A US Congressional report published at the end of April of this year also raised eyebrows, when it described Ceuta and Melilla as “Spanish-administered cities” located “in Moroccan territory.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6JKSkip next section AfD’s Weidel takes aim at Merz government after Ceuta breach07/31/2026July 31, 2026
AfD’s Weidel takes aim at Merz government after Ceuta breach
German anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposition leader Alice Weidel took aim at Friedrich Merz for his response to developments in Ceuta.
“The chancellor doesn’t dedicate a single word to how he wants to secure the German border, and he also does not comment on a suspension of the Schengen Zone, as Italy, Finland and Denmark have done in the mean time,” Weidel wrote, along with an image embedding Merz’s response on social media. “Merz wants to sit out this crisis too, without acting in any way.”
Merz’s comment had explicitly said he supported Spain’s intentions “not to allow the illegal migrants onto the European continent” and had called for their return “without delay.”
Earlier in the day, Weidel had said that Ceuta was “ravaged” overnight and had said Germany must prepare itself.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I6GmSkip next section Portugal: Integrity of Schengen depends on ‘rigorous border control’07/31/2026July 31, 2026
Portugal: Integrity of Schengen depends on ‘rigorous border control’
Portugal‘s government has issued a statement saying it is monitoring development in Ceuta with “great concern” and it laments the loss of life.
It said it had been kept informed by its Iberian neighbors “from the very beginning” and noted that Madrid’s government had provided assurances that it would work with Morocco to “reverse the flow of the thousands of people who have arrived.”
“The Portuguese government reaffirms that the integrity of the Schengen system depends on rigorous border control and a determined fight against all forms of illegal immigration,” the government said.
It said domestic authorities like the maritime police and the GNR national guard that combats illegal migration were “cooperating and acting in concert” with their Spanish counterparts.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I67hSkip next section RECAP — Italy, France plan additional border vigilance07/31/2026July 31, 2026
RECAP — Italy, France plan additional border vigilance
France’s Interior Minister on Friday said he had ordered tougher controls at the Spanish border overnight.
“In response to the situaton observed in the Ceuta enclave, I gave instructions as of last night to immediately strengthen the controls a the Spanish border,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez wrote. “Furthermore, I am activating the Rapid Intervention Border Force for in-depth checks.”
Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went a step further late on Thursday, calling for the “suspension” of Spain’s membership in the open-border Schengen zone.
On Friday, Finland’s Interior Minister, a member of the right-wing populist Finns Party that’s the second-largest in Helsinki’s coalition government, said she supported this proposal.
“Spain has completely failed to protect the Schengen Area’s external border from infiltration. This cannot continue. All European countries must support Meloni’s proposal,” Mari Rantanen wrote on Friday.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5zySkip next section UK’s Burnham ‘making contact with the Spanish government’07/31/2026July 31, 2026
UK’s Burnham ‘making contact with the Spanish government’
British Prime Minister Andy Burham said his government had offered support to Spain amid the developments.
“Obviously that’s a matter for the Spanish government first and foremost, but it is a cause for concern,” Burnham told reporters on Friday.
“And we are making contact with the Spanish government, the Spanish authorities, to provide support but also to understand the implications of that situation,” he said.
The leader of the UK’s populist right-wing opposition Party Reform UK, Nigel Farage, had already sought to draw attention to the situation, issuing a video as early as Thursday calling the situation a “battle for the future of our civilization.”
Following up on the issue on Friday, Farage said of the people who had entered Ceuta: “Before long many will be crossing the English Channel to enter Britain illegally.” He did not explain how in his estimation they were likely to reach the European mainland or the French port of Calais thereafter.
Amid the typical summer increase in illegal English Channel crossings into the UK, as calm seas render the trip less perilous, and as Burnham enjoys a brief honeymoon period in the polls after taking over from Keir Starmer, Farage and other British right-wing populists have turned their focus to the issue of irregular migration by boat in recent days.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5xnSkip next section What, and where, is Ceuta?07/31/2026July 31, 2026
What, and where, is Ceuta?
Ceuta is an autonomous Spanish exclave on North Africa’s coast, bordering Morocco, not that far east of Tangiers.
It’s roughly 17 kilometers (or 11 miles) away from the Cadiz province and the Spanish mainland, across the Strait of Gibraltar.
The city of roughly 85,000 people has a similar size and status as Melilla, further east along the coast. As well as the local autonomous administration, one lawmaker represents the territory in Spain’s national parliament.
Ceuta is part of the territory of the European Union, although it’s only possible to reach the Spanish mainland via ferry, with ID or passport checks nominally required in order to board.
When Spain recognized the independence of Spanish Morocco in 1956, Ceuta and other so-called “strongholds of sovereignty” (plazas de soberania) remained under Spanish control. Morocco disputed this.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5lrSkip next section EU’s von der Leyen: ‘Dangerous crossings must stop immediately’ 07/31/2026July 31, 2026
EU’s von der Leyen: ‘Dangerous crossings must stop immediately’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday called the images coming from Ceuta unacceptable.
“We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,” she wrote online. “Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”
Von der Leyen said she’d asked two relevant European Commissioners to provide support.
Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner was already working closely with Spain and was “ready to travel to critical points,” she said.
She added that Commissioner for the Mediterranean and Demography Dubravka Suica was “in contact with her Moroccan counterpart.”
Von der Leyen said she was “confident that our close partnership with Morocco will help deliver concrete results.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5lnSkip 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 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
Saim Dušan Inayatullah Editor
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/5I5NVShow more posts
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