Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives to manage one of the largest migrant crises on the country’s border as Italy and Finland call for Spain’s suspension from the Schengen zone

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CEUTA, Spain — Thousands of migrants have crossed overnight from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived on Friday to manage one of the largest migrant crises on the country’s border.

In recent days, a total of around 40,000 migrants have crossed into the territory, a police source said, many swimming around the small border barrier that meets the Mediterranean Sea. So far, 18 people have died attempting to reach the Spanish enclave, the police source confirmed.

“There was a steady stream of people all night long,” the source said, adding that migrants “continued to arrive overnight and are still arriving” early Friday.

Hundreds of people — men, women and children — have been seen entering Ceuta by swimming around a border barrier with Morocco, discarding flotation rings and clothes used in the risky passage. On Friday, hundreds of migrants, mostly young men, were hanging around near the border and in the town while others were turning back to Morocco, saying “there are too many people here”. Ebullient migrants on Thursday were walking through the streets of Ceuta, thanking Spanish police and calling out: “Bye bye Morocco, hello Spain”.

The sudden massive influx has sparked an international crisis for Spain’s government, drawing criticism from Italy and Finland and prompting France to tighten checks on its border with Spain. Madrid has sent troops and more police, including divers, drones and boats, to boost security in Ceuta. Sanchez and his interior minister arrived on Friday to visit the enclave’s Tarajal border.

Italy on Thursday called for Spain to be suspended from Europe’s open-borders Schengen zone, prompting Spain to summon Italy’s ambassador and accuse Rome of using the crisis for political gain. Finland on Friday also backed Italy’s call to shut Spain out of the zone over the crisis. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X that he had “given instructions to immediately step up controls at the Spanish border” on Thursday night. Two top officials within US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday also reiterated their anti-immigration politics using video of Ceuta.

It was not immediately clear what has prompted the recent surge of migrants from Morocco. In 2021, more than 10,000 migrants reached Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco over the course of two days, taking advantage of a loosening of border controls by Rabat during a crisis between the two countries. That dispute erupted after Spain decided to host the leader of the Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, for medical treatment. That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its long-standing policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara — a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algiers.

Morocco’s authorities had not yet issued an official statement on the flow of migrants, but a Moroccan official source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the two countries had spoken about the matter. Sanchez visited Algiers on July 20 — the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years — marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.

Ceuta, a territory of 18.5 square kilometres (seven square miles), and the similar enclave of Melilla have Europe’s only two land borders with Africa.