In the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta, local authorities have made an urgent plea to the national government in Madrid, calling for a formal national emergency declaration and military intervention to address a sudden, massive wave of unauthorized border crossings that has overstretched local capacity. Thousands of migrants have entered the tiny territory in recent days, triggering comparisons to a major 2021 border crisis that tested Spain’s migration management systems.
Footage captured at Ceuta’s Tarajal Beach shows large groups of people, predominantly of Moroccan origin, moving past coastal breakwaters and flooding onto local beaches and access roads. While most of the new arrivals are young adult men, the crowds also include entire families with women and young children. Some migrants were heard shouting “Viva España!” to an Associated Press freelance journalist documenting the unfolding situation on the coast.
The sharp escalation in unauthorized entry follows a steady rise in migration attempts targeting the exclave, with many migrants attempting to reach Ceuta by swimming across the border waterway in recent weeks. The current wave of crossings mirrors the chaotic border crisis that unfolded in May 2021, when more than 8,000 migrants entered Ceuta over a 48-hour period, overwhelming local services in a matter of days.
Juan Jesús Vivas, president of Ceuta’s regional government, has formalized the request for national action, arguing that a declaration of national emergency on national security grounds is necessary to address the crisis. Beyond the formal emergency status, Vivas has called for additional reinforcements of national police forces and the deployment of army personnel to secure the shared border with Morocco. He emphasized that extra law enforcement and military support is critical “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety” for both existing residents and the new arrivals.
Days before making this formal request, Vivas had already raised alarms about overstretched local infrastructure, warning on Wednesday that official migrant reception centers were operating far beyond capacity. Hundreds of new arrivals have been forced to sleep on public streets in Ceuta as the local government struggles to provide basic shelter and services to the growing number of migrants.