60,000 Moroccan migrants flood into Spain as local leader declares state of emergency

Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta has declared what its leader describes as a humanitarian and security emergency after around 1,500 migrants reached the European Union territory in one week, overwhelming reception centers and leaving hundreds sleeping on the streets. By Friday, that number had reached over 60,000 people.

The warning comes as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government continues to defend its expansive migration policies, including a sweeping regularization program expected to legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants over the coming years. Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas said arrivals are now averaging around 300 people every day after migrants swam across the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave.

"We are facing a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency," Vivas said, per Reuters, warning that facilities for unaccompanied minors are operating at an extraordinary 2,400% of capacity. In separate interviews with Spanish radio stations, Vivas escalated his warning further, describing the crisis as a national emergency and demanding a "decisive, forceful, immediate and coordinated" response under a single national command.

The surge has left local authorities struggling as hundreds of migrants sleep outdoors while emergency services scramble to accommodate new arrivals. Ceuta and neighboring Melilla form the European Union's only land border with Africa and have long served as major entry points for migrants attempting to reach Europe. Vivas warned that, if current crossings continue, the city could soon face a repeat of the 2021 border crisis when around 10,000 migrants entered Ceuta within days.

He also highlighted the growing human cost of the crossings, revealing that around 60 bodies have been recovered from the surrounding waters in recent months and arguing that stronger border enforcement would prevent further deaths. Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska is due to travel to Ceuta to meet security officials as Madrid coordinates its response across multiple government departments.

The pressure has also intensified after Spain's Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot automatically be returned under the enclaves' special border procedures, a decision Vivas said exposed serious weaknesses in Spain's immigration framework. Moroccan security forces are continuing to work alongside Spanish authorities in an effort to reduce crossings, according to Spain's Interior Ministry.