'Pure political theatre': Ceuta migrant crisis 'used politically' to portray Europe as under attack
Cover image: © France 24 06:47SPAIN
Issued on: 03/08/2026 - FRANCE24
Stuart Norval is pleased to welcome Camille Le Coz, Director at Migration Policy Institute Europe. Le Coz offers a nuanced interpretation of the recent events in Ceuta that challenges the dominant political narratives emerging across Europe. She shifts attention away from emotionally charged images toward the structural forces shaping migration: demographic pressures in North Africa, labour shortages in Europe, the role of smuggling networks amplified by social media, and the enduring tendency of migration crises to become instruments of domestic political competition. In doing so, she offers a reminder that Europe's migration debate is often driven less by the movement of people itself than by competing political narratives about what those movements represent.
Issued on: 03/08/2026 - FRANCE24
Stuart Norval is pleased to welcome Camille Le Coz, Director at Migration Policy Institute Europe. Le Coz offers a nuanced interpretation of the recent events in Ceuta that challenges the dominant political narratives emerging across Europe. She shifts attention away from emotionally charged images toward the structural forces shaping migration: demographic pressures in North Africa, labour shortages in Europe, the role of smuggling networks amplified by social media, and the enduring tendency of migration crises to become instruments of domestic political competition. In doing so, she offers a reminder that Europe's migration debate is often driven less by the movement of people itself than by competing political narratives about what those movements represent.
Ceuta: more migrants leave but residents still in shock. Far-right leader visits
Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right party Vox, visited the city today and accused the government of being in thrall to Morocco.
Here at the border between Ceuta and Morocco, the situation is much calmer than in recent days. According to Spanish authorities, the majority of the at least 60,000 people who crossed irregularly at this point on Thursday have already returned.
There is still a sporadic but steady stream of people heading back. Most of those returning tell us they entered Spain after receiving social media messages claiming the border was open and that no documentation was required.
Meanwhile, in the city, fear has given way to indignation. Virtually everyone I have spoken to cannot fathom how this situation could have happened and is demanding urgent explanations. It is a tense social atmosphere that is fuelling political debate.
A taxi driver told me:
"I got the feeling that people are very, very angry. I know they’re very angry right now. There are 85,000 of us here, and 60,000 are coming in. So, tell me. What do we do? What are we going to do? We can’t even buy bread. There was no bread. There was nothing. Nothing, nothing. Everything was closed."
While he was reluctant to attribute blame, some residents were more outspoken. Alluding to the initial legal difficulty of sending the migrants back immediately because they came via the sea, a middle-aged man called PM Pedro Sanchez an "accomplice", adding: "this is a disgrace— for me, a disgrace. This has never happened before in my life."
Some Ceutanos do point to a humanitarian duty in connection with the crisis. A 78-year old pensioner told me:
"If there are children there, they need to be given something to drink, they need to be given something to eat. It’s common sense, but that now all of Ceuta, all of Spain—and Spain stands with you—is with you."
However, the situation as a whole he cannot but condemn:
"This is a state of emergency and a declaration of martial law, just to go shopping at Mercadona? I have to pass a soldier every ten meters away from him ten or twenty meters away from him and feed the troops well and the police. That’s a state of siege, and it’s a of national emergency. There’s no question about it."
Santiago Abascal, the leader of Vox, visited the city today, accusing the government of being in thrall to Morocco.
Speaking to the media, Abascal placed the responsibility for what had happened on the government in Rabat and, above all, on Pedro Sánchez himself.
He argued that Morocco acted in the conviction that there would be neither response nor reprisals, because the Spanish prime minister is, in his words, "subservient to the African country".
Spain installs floating barrier in Ceuta after
migration influx
Spanish authorities said Saturday they were installing a floating barrier on the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco after a deadly surge of tens of thousands of migrants into the territory earlier in the week prompted alarm across the European Union.
Issued on:02/08/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Spain said migrant crossings into its North African enclave of Ceuta stopped overnight, as police began installing a 500-metre (1,640-foot) floating barrier on Saturday off its border with Morocco following a mass rush that killed at least 72 people.
According to Spanish authorities, about 60,000 people had crossed into Ceuta by land and sea from Thursday in an unprecedented surge at one of the European Union's only land borders with Africa. More than 48,000 of them returned to Morocco within 48 hours, Spain said.
Reuters video on Saturday showed Spanish soldiers and police patrolling a mostly empty Tarajal beach shrouded in fog.
EU calls emergency meeting
Civil Guard police started laying the new barrier at 7:50am (0550 GMT) on the Tarajal breakwater, one of the main points used by people trying to enter the tiny Spanish territory, the government said in a statement.
The pneumatic barrier, alongside a line of anchored naval buoys, is designed to stand 30 to 70 centimetres (12 to 28 inches) above water and extend as much as one metre below the surface, it added, while a channel between the barriers will allow Civil Guard vessels to patrol the area.
The mass crossing prompted alarm across the European Union, and 22 member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures.
Ireland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said it had called an emergency video conference meeting of the bloc's interior ministers to discuss the crisis on Tuesday.
01:57
"In the current international context, the EU cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction," Sanchez wrote in a letter to the EU Commission and European Council presidents.
Death toll rises
"The latest figure that we have is 72," the government's delegate to Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez Triano, told reporters on Saturday when asked about the number of fatalities. Some migrants drowned and others were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater and border fence.
The previous toll was 67 deaths.
Many were driven to migrate by economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumours.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska blamed people-smuggling networks for exploiting vulnerable migrants and spreading misleading interpretations of a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling that migrants intercepted at sea cannot be summarily returned in the absence of a physical barrier.
Speaking from Ceuta, Grande-Marlaska told reporters Spain had largely restored order within 24 hours, but warned that the crisis was not yet formally over and that reinforced police and military deployments would remain as long as needed, though overnight crossings had fallen to about zero.
"Morocco isn't any threat to Ceuta or the rest of Spain – it's a fully reliable partner," he said, adding there had been no intelligence indicating a mass entry was imminent.
The AUGC union for Spain's Civil Guard said it was asking for a reinforcement of at least 200 officers, and warned that more work was needed to stop people swimming round the new inflatable barrier.
Madrid said the people who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel onwards to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.
In a statement, the foreign ministry added that travellers leaving Ceuta by sea or air undergo police identity checks, representing a second layer of control after the land border with Morocco.
In contrast to most of Europe, Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.
But it has rejected suggestions that the regularisation scheme had encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying applicants must prove residence in Spain before January 1, 2026, and five continuous months of residence when applying.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
Morocco blames Ceuta migrant rush on 'misleading information' on social media
Morocco on Sunday said 11 people died trying to reach Spain's North African exclave of Ceuta this week as the country's interior ministry blamed the sudden surge on the "spread of misleading information" on social media. Morocco’s figure is significantly lower than the death toll issued by Spain, which says at least 72 people died.
Issued on: 03/08/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Morgan AYRE
Cover image: A migrant who crossed into Spain from Morocco sits on a shore in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. © Antonio Sempere, AP
01:46
Morocco's interior ministry on Sunday issued its first toll for those who died trying to reach Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta last week, saying 11 people had died.
The figures are significantly lower than those issued by Spain, which says at least 72 people died.
Tens of thousands of would-be migrants crossed into the territory between Wednesday and Friday, sparking a diplomatic row within the European Union as some member states criticised Spain's migration policies
Rachid El Khalfi, a spokesman for Morocco's interior ministry, said that of the 11 who died, 10 had drowned, while an eleventh person fell from a rocky area.
'Pure political theatre': Ceuta migrant crisis 'used politically' to make Europe seem 'under attack'Morocco was working with Spain to check the toll figures and to identify bodies found on Spanish territory.
The ministry blamed the sudden surge on the "malicious exploitation" of social media and the "spread of misleading information".
But it also cited the "misinterpretations of legal provisions" – a reference to a July 8 Spanish Supreme Court ruling that migrants arriving by sea should not be returned as quickly as others.
The ministry said there had been 40,000 attempts to cross into Ceuta illegally.
Another 1,135 people had tried to illegally enter the Spanish territory of Melilla, further east, but had been immediately returned to Moroccan territory, the ministry added.
Spain says more than 60,000 managed to enter Ceuta in recent days although most have now returned to Morocco.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said there were "nearly 130 victims" with dozens more missing.
Prosecutors have opened an official investigation into what happened, said the ministry.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Europe to hold meeting Tuesday over Ceuta after migration flux
Issued on: 02/08/2026 - FRANCE24
Spain has installed a 500-metre-long sea barrier between its North African enclave of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco. It comes after tens of thousands of migrants breached the border earlier this week, with at least 67 people dying in the attempt. While most of those who crossed quickly returned to Morocco, the incident has reignited the immigration debate in Europe and beyond. The EU is due to hold an emergency video conference on the issue on Tuesday. Charlotte Hughes reports.
Video by: Charlotte HUGHES
01:46
The figures are significantly lower than those issued by Spain, which says at least 72 people died.
Tens of thousands of would-be migrants crossed into the territory between Wednesday and Friday, sparking a diplomatic row within the European Union as some member states criticised Spain's migration policies
Rachid El Khalfi, a spokesman for Morocco's interior ministry, said that of the 11 who died, 10 had drowned, while an eleventh person fell from a rocky area.
'Pure political theatre': Ceuta migrant crisis 'used politically' to make Europe seem 'under attack'
The ministry blamed the sudden surge on the "malicious exploitation" of social media and the "spread of misleading information".
But it also cited the "misinterpretations of legal provisions" – a reference to a July 8 Spanish Supreme Court ruling that migrants arriving by sea should not be returned as quickly as others.
The ministry said there had been 40,000 attempts to cross into Ceuta illegally.
Another 1,135 people had tried to illegally enter the Spanish territory of Melilla, further east, but had been immediately returned to Moroccan territory, the ministry added.
Spain says more than 60,000 managed to enter Ceuta in recent days although most have now returned to Morocco.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said there were "nearly 130 victims" with dozens more missing.
Prosecutors have opened an official investigation into what happened, said the ministry.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Issued on: 02/08/2026 - FRANCE24
Spain has installed a 500-metre-long sea barrier between its North African enclave of Ceuta and neighbouring Morocco. It comes after tens of thousands of migrants breached the border earlier this week, with at least 67 people dying in the attempt. While most of those who crossed quickly returned to Morocco, the incident has reignited the immigration debate in Europe and beyond. The EU is due to hold an emergency video conference on the issue on Tuesday. Charlotte Hughes reports.
Trump blames Spain for migrant chaos despite return of tens of thousands to Morocco
US President Donald Trump and other far-right leaders on Friday seized on Spain's migration crisis to bolster their political messaging on immigration, while over half of the migrants who had crossed the border made their way back to Morocco voluntarily the same day.
Issued on: 31/07/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Catherine Viette
01:43
US President Donald Trump led far-right attempts Friday on both sides of the Atlantic to make political capital from Spain's migration crisis, portraying the migrant surge in Ceuta as a warning for America if his opponents get into power.
About 60,000 migrants have crossed from Morocco into Spain’s tiny Ceuta territory in the past 24 hours, Ceuta's president said Friday, a figure that is equivalent to 70% of the population of the city in North Africa.
But over half of them have already made their way back voluntarily, the Spanish government said, after the sudden arrival of so many migrants triggered chaos and a humanitarian crisis.
"I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place," Trump told a meeting of his cabinet at the presidential Camp David retreat in Maryland.
"It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger."
'It took me two hours': 40,000 migrants swim from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta
01:42
News footage of migrants overwhelming barriers to get into Ceuta – a tiny Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast – aired repeatedly on Fox News and went viral across right-wing Trump-allied social media accounts.
There were similar reactions from a range of right-wing and Trump-linked leaders in Europe.
Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel claimed in an X post that "Ceuta was left in ruins overnight" by the mass influx from Morocco.
She argued that Germany is "likely the destination for most of these migrants".
"Germany must prepare itself: borders must be secured and rejections rigorously enforced," wrote Weidel, whose party is backed by top Trump officials.
Both Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the populist right-wing ruling coalition in Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone as a result of the situation.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire Trump supporter, said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain's policy of offering hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country a legal status.
"They are replacing Spaniards with migrants," Babis said.
'Invasion of the West'
Trump's election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 was fueled by voter worries over uncontrolled migration on the US-Mexico border and his lurid warnings of migrants coming to murder Americans and even to eat their pets.
The Trump administration leapt on the Ceuta crisis in a coordinated messaging barrage.
The State Department issued a statement blaming Spain's government for "deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe".
Without giving detail, the statement said Washington was "considering actions to defend Americans at home and abroad from this threat and stand ready to assist other European allies considering similar options".
Trump's vice president, JD Vance, posted news footage of the Ceuta migrant wave and said it highlighted "radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West".
"These images out of Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration," Vance posted on X.
Late Thursday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a chief architect of Trump's anti-migration crackdown, posted video of the Ceuta crisis and said: "Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice."
Newleftreview.org
No comments:
Post a Comment