EU grapples with migrant crisis in Spain's North Africa enclave

France and Italy bolstered border controls on Saturday after about 60,000 people crossed into Ceuta, Spain's enclave in North Africa, sparking one of the European Union's largest migrant crises in recent years.

The migrants entered from Morocco, enclave president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters, though officials said more than 48,000 had returned by Friday evening.

Where is Ceuta and why are migrants crossing there?

Ceuta is a Spanish territory of 18.5 square kilometers on Africa's northern coast, one of only two land borders between Europe and Africa. Many migrants swam around a small border barrier jutting into the Mediterranean to reach it, and at least 34 people died in the attempt.

To cross into Ceuta, migrants navigated the barrier by sea rather than through official checkpoints. The sudden influx quickly escalated into an international crisis, drawing responses from across the EU within days.

France tightened checks on its border with Spain and said it would boost its police presence there fivefold, to 334 officers and gendarmes, by Saturday. Italy suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain, ending visa-free movement between the two countries for one month starting Saturday. Several European countries suggested Spain's Schengen membership should face suspension, though Spain's foreign minister said the zone's integrity remained "guaranteed."

What is going on with Spain and Morocco?

Madrid rushed troops, police, drones, divers and boats to Ceuta as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his interior minister visited the enclave on Friday. AFP journalists observed groups of young people wandering Ceuta's beaches and streets overnight, with dozens of men sleeping on the sand.

A heavy police and military presence filled the area, and some young people were seen turning back toward Morocco, saying goodbye to officers before recrossing the border. Shops closed inside the city and annual fiestas were cancelled as the crisis unfolded.

"It's catastrophic," said Mohammed, a local taxi driver and Ceuta resident. "Sure, we sympathise with them, they're having a terrible time in their own country, and all that, but this isn't the way to enter a place, nor is it a way to live."

Sanchez blamed the surge on people-traffickers who spread rumours about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling this month barring the immediate return of irregular migrants arriving 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," he said. Sanchez had visited Algiers on July 20, the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years, though it remains unclear whether that trip is connected to the latest influx.

How has the EU responded to the Ceuta migrant crisis?

Fears over migrants entering EU member states triggered swift diplomatic fallout. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the scenes at Ceuta "unacceptable," writing on social media that the EU cannot allow entry without adherence to its rules.

Finland and Denmark backed Italy's moves on Friday, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz demanded Morocco "take back illegal migrants immediately." France and Britain said they stood ready to help Spain manage the surge, even as France tightened its own border checks.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said he was considering reinforced border checks but saw no need to suspend Spain from the Schengen zone. US President Donald Trump seized on the crossing to push hardline immigration policy, warning it "looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people" and predicting the same could happen in the US without a Republican win.

Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares pushed back on the alarm, saying travel from Ceuta and Melilla to mainland Spain requires identification at a police checkpoint. "Enough of this deliberate confusion," he said.

Has this happened before in Ceuta?

Ceuta and the nearby enclave of Melilla mark Europe's only two land borders with Africa, and both have seen migrant surges tied to Spain-Morocco tensions before. Moroccan authorities have not yet issued an official statement on the current flow of migrants.

During a similar surge in 2021, more than 10,000 migrants reached Ceuta from Morocco over two days amid a diplomatic spat between the countries. That row began after Spain hosted a Polisario Front leader for medical treatment, a group whose guerrillas fought Rabat over Western Sahara's independence. The 2021 crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its neutral stance and backed Morocco's plan for Western Sahara, a shift that strained relations between Madrid and Algiers.