Migrants return back to Morocco, as seen from Ceuta, Spain, July 31, 2026, amid crossings by other migrants into Ceuta by sea and land. Image@ REUTERS/Fabian Bimme
More than half of the migrants who forced their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this week have already returned to Morocco, Spanish authorities said on Friday, as the reported death toll from the mass crossing rose to 34 and security forces tightened control of the border.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said about 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Thursday morning, with roughly 25,000 already back in Morocco by Friday. Many who returned said they struggled to find food or shelter after entering the enclave.
“Honestly, I don’t even know why I came, and now I’m going back,” a young Moroccan man from Tangier told Reuters. “I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, even though I brought some money with me. What we’re doing is neither good nor enjoyable.”
Others were escorted back through official border crossings and openings in the fence under the watch of Spanish military vehicles deployed along the frontier.
Many people never made it across. Brahim, 32, who gave only one name, said he travelled from Tangier hoping to enter Ceuta but arrived after the border gate had already been closed. He was among dozens waiting on a hillside on the Moroccan side on Friday, alongside women and children from Morocco and several sub-Saharan African countries.
Local officials described the initial influx as unprecedented. Juan Jesus Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s local government, estimated that nearly 60,000 people crossed into the enclave and said 34 people had died, most by drowning, while others were crushed in the scramble to reach the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach.
Spain’s Interior Ministry reported a lower official death toll, saying 19 bodies had been recovered from the water. Even that figure would surpass the previous record surge in 2021, when between 8,000 and 10,000 migrants entered Ceuta over two days.
Moroccan police in riot gear used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds still gathered near the border. Burned-out buses and cars from earlier clashes remained at the crossing on Friday. Reinforcements from Morocco had largely sealed the main border point at Fnideq, although some migrants continued searching for weak points along the coastline.
Spain’s Guardia Civil police association said officers stationed at the border were overwhelmed during Thursday’s rush and simply did not have enough personnel to stop the crowd.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta on Friday, where some protesters jeered his arrival. He described the mass crossing as “a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty” and said his government was working with Morocco to speed up the deportation of those who entered illegally.
Spanish officials said the surge followed a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that prohibits the immediate return of migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla. A Guardia Civil spokesperson said the decision transformed what had been a steady flow of arrivals into an overnight surge. The Interior Ministry also accused human smuggling networks of exploiting the ruling to encourage more people to attempt the crossing.
The crisis has also sparked political tensions across Europe. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government was prepared to take extraordinary steps to protect Italy’s borders, including suspending the Schengen agreement with Spain. Italy’s foreign minister accused Madrid’s migrant regularisation programme of encouraging human trafficking, prompting Spain to summon the Italian ambassador.
France also tightened checks along its border with Spain under a long-standing exemption to Schengen’s open-border rules. Meanwhile, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said that if elected president next year, she would restrict Schengen’s freedom of movement to European citizens.
Spain has rejected the criticism, insisting that its decision to grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants this year strengthens the country’s economy. While Ceuta and Melilla have long experienced periodic migration surges as the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, officials say this week’s influx was unlike anything seen before.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah