Thousands of migrants cross into Spanish enclave of Ceuta, prompting calls for emergency measures

Thousands of migrants entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, overwhelming local reception centers and prompting the regional government to ask the national authorities to declare a state of emergency and deploy the army to secure the border.

Rachid Sbihi, head of the association representing Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, described the situation as "absolute chaos" and said the border had "totally collapsed," noting that precise numbers were unavailable but that the flow involved thousands of people.

Achraf Maimouni of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights called the incident "exceptional" and said the Tarajal crossing was opened under unusual circumstances. Video footage showed crowds, mainly young men but also families, moving across the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads.

The surge follows a recent increase in attempts to reach Ceuta by sea, which resulted in at least three deaths. Spain’s interior ministry said Morocco was cooperating by stopping numerous would-be crossers, and both governments agreed to work toward the prompt return of those who entered illegally. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska is scheduled to travel to Ceuta to assess the situation.

Ceuta’s regional leader, Juan Jesús Vivas, urged the central government to declare an emergency on national-security grounds, arguing that additional police and soldiers were needed to guarantee frontier inviolability and citizen safety. The interior ministry noted that current legislation does not classify migration flows as a national-security risk, but authorities are coordinating a rapid response.

Since the start of the year, nearly 3,000 migrants have entered Ceuta by land or sea, according to ministry data, with the latest influx adding to a pattern of periodic border pressures on the small enclave.