Although a Spanish enclave in North Africa is begging for help as migrants overrun its borders, the Spanish government has rejected the community’s request to declare a national emergency.
Spain’s interior ministry said the rules for declaring such emergencies do not consider inundation with migrants to be a national security risk, according to NBC News.
According to Reuters, the city of Ceuta, located on the coast and bordered by Morocco, was coping with between 2,000 and 3,000 people who entered it largely by sea.
A representative of Spain’s Guardia Civil police said migrants were “massively entering from the sea.”
Thousands of migrants from Morocco poured over the country’s border with Spain and into the country’s African enclave of Ceuta after swimming around border barriers to reach the territory.
The latest wave comes after more than 1,500 migrants arrived in Ceuta by sea over the past… pic.twitter.com/kETfPOPTbO
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 30, 2026
Earlier this month, Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea trying to reach Ceuta or the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla cannot be sent back where they came from.
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“It has been a slow trickle since the Supreme Court’s ruling, but today has been an explosion,” the Guardia Civil representative said.
Juan Jesus Vivas, Ceuta’s president, said that “we are in a situation of total humanitarian and social emergency,” according to GB News.
Insane video of Thousands of Morrocan migrants breaching across the border into Ceuta Spain. pic.twitter.com/j6HUCIBsPX
— WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@WarMonitor3) July 30, 2026
In videos posted on social media, hundreds of people can be seen running up the beaches and hills of Ceuta.
“In the past few days, more than 1,500 migrants, both adults and minors, have come to Ceuta by sea,” he said.
“The reception centers are saturated — there is no more room for anyone in them and according to yesterday’s figures the number of people entering is more than 200 a day,” he said.
Vivas had begged Spain’s government to declare a national emergency and post police and armed forces at the border.
🚨BREAKING: An emergency has now been declared in the Spanish city of Ceuta after tens of thousands of illegal migrants break in from Morocco
Pedro Sánchez is REFUSING to deploy the military to defend the borders. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/OvtzvEZxBs
— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) July 30, 2026
“With every passing hour, the situation becomes more difficult,” he said.
The request to hold back migrants runs against the current direction of the Spanish government, which earlier this year approved giving legal status to half a million illegal immigrants.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in April the plan was “an act of justice” and a necessity.
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