Spain reinforces Ceuta after migrants swim from Morocco, at least 18 dead

Geopolitics
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Spain has stepped up security measures in Ceuta, its autonomous territory in northern Africa, after thousands of migrants attempted to swim across from Morocco, with at least 18 found dead. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska are due to visit the area on Friday to assess the situation, while the government has deployed troops to join the Civil Guard after migrant reception centres and security agencies came under severe strain. Over the past week, an average of 300 migrants a day have surged into Ceuta, totalling around 1,500, most of them swimming along the coast from Morocco. The rapid increase in arrivals has left centres for unaccompanied minors and other shelters with insufficient capacity, forcing many new migrants to sleep rough in public spaces. Local police and Civil Guard forces have warned that operations are near collapse and they feel overwhelmed, saying the situation is worse than the migrant crisis of May 2021. Ceuta leader Juan Jesús Vivas has called on the central government to declare a national emergency and set up a joint command centre, but the interior ministry rejected the idea, saying the problem does not meet the criteria under civil protection law. The crisis has also spilled into a diplomatic row, after Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani proposed suspending Spain's Schengen rights and criticised the Spanish government's decision to regularise over 500,000 undocumented migrants as an incentive for human trafficking. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares responded by summoning the Italian ambassador, calling Tajani's remarks inappropriate and urging European unity. Meanwhile, authorities ordered the closure of the Beni Ansar border crossing in Melilla, the only open crossing between Spain and Morocco, after hundreds of migrants tried to storm the border simultaneously. The incident follows a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that bans officials from immediately pushing back migrants arriving by sea, stating that fast-track returns are only allowed when migrants attempt to scale border fences or other physical barriers.

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