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In pictures: Spain says migrants returning from Ceuta after 57 killed in border rush
France said it was increasing checks on its border with Spain, and Italy threatened to suspend Spain from the EU's internal open border scheme
- PUBLISHED: Fri 31 Jul 2026, 3:05 PM UPDATED: Fri 31 Jul 2026, 9:12 PM
Spain said on Friday that it had reversed a huge rush of migrants into a Spanish enclave in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily.
The Spanish government's representative in the enclave of Ceuta said 57 bodies had been recovered on the Spanish side of the border and that there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side. It said some drowned and some were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.
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The mass crossing into Ceuta caused shock and division in Europe. France said it was increasing checks on its border with Spain, and Italy threatened to suspend Spain from the EU's internal open border scheme.
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Moroccan forces beat back crowds with batons and tear gas at the gates to Ceuta, trying to prevent more from storming across into the tiny Spanish territory that juts on a spit of sandy land into the Mediterranean from Morocco.
At the gates into Ceuta, Moroccan authorities had deployed water cannon trucks and pushed people back. The charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen nearby from clashes with the crowds.
Spanish authorities said they would try to expel those who had entered illegally as quickly as possible, despite a court ruling that put some restrictions on special "border rejection" rules that allow immediate expulsions from the enclave.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was due to visit Ceuta on Friday with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa. The two cities, each home to around 85,000 people, both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday's rush had little precedent.
Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres said on Friday that among factors contributing to the surge may have been a ruling by Spain's Supreme Court earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under special rules.
Migrants stream into town on moroccan side of border
Torres told a local radio station the Spanish government had reacted immediately to the surge and would proceed to eventually return the migrants, while respecting court rulings and migrants' rights.
On the Moroccan side of the border, thousands of migrants streamed into the town of Fnideq overnight despite a reinforced deployment of security that foiled most attempts to cross. Although the crossing appeared blocked, groups moved along the coast seeking routes around the fence. Some prepared to swim.
"I was late," said Brahim, 32, who gave only one name. He said he had arrived from Tangier hoping to cross through the gate but found it effectively shut. Among those hoping to cross were women and children, from both Morocco and sub-Saharan African countries further south.
In a post on X, Spain's Guardia Civil police association AUGC said there had been too few police in place to monitor the fence during the surge on Thursday, making them unable to stop it.
Migration is a sensitive issue across Europe, where right-wing parties have surged in the decade since a 2015 crisis when more than a million people crossed the continent mainly on foot and sought asylum, most fleeing war in Syria.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had already issued instructions "to immediately step up checks at the Spanish border".
Nunez's statement did not spell out what that meant in practice, and there was no immediate response to a request from the ministry for further comment. There are normally no checks at borders between members of the EU's internal Schengen Area, though they can be introduced for a limited time in exceptional circumstances.
Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was prepared "to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain".
Finland's interior minister, also from a right-wing party, praised Meloni's proposal and said the EU should follow Italy's lead.
While Spain's Socialist government says it remains firm over illegal crossings, it says immigrants help strengthen the economy and has offered a mass amnesty that saw hundreds of thousands of people seek citizenship over the past year.
"The images coming from Ceuta show how the Madrid government's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly wrong and encourages human trafficking," Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares replied that Tajani's message was "inappropriate" and said Spain expected "solidarity and not partisan demagoguery" from its partner. He added he would summon the Italian ambassador to protest.
Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate from France's far-right National Rally, said that if she wins an election next year, she would restrict free movement under Schengen to European nationals.
"In the face of the massive and coordinated influx of migrants into Spain — encouraged by the Spanish government — France must immediately strengthen its border controls," she said on X.