Officials in Ceuta, a Spanish island off the coast of Morocco, asked Spain’s government to declare a national emergency after thousands of migrants broke through border barriers and flooded the island by boat on Thursday.
Video footage of their arrival showed thousands of migrants arriving by boat, overwhelming the island’s border fences, and flooding into neighborhoods.
Watch:
NEW: Spain is now deploying its military after thousands of military-aged men stormed over the border into Ceuta, Spain.
Ceuta authorities are calling on Madrid to declare a national emergency after the border “totally collapsed.”
“The situation is absolute chaos. It’s not… pic.twitter.com/Mpe5Lc1xlK
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 30, 2026
“The situation is absolute chaos,” Rachid Sbihi, the head of the association that represents Spain’s Civil Guard officers who police the border in Ceuta, told the Associated Press. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers but there are thousands of migrants crossing.”
Sbihi added that the border had “totally collapsed.”
Later, as the evening approached, additional footage emerged showing some migrants trying to break into the homes of residents.
Watch:
Reports indicate illegal aliens in Ceuta, Spain, are now attempting to break into homes as midnight approaches. pic.twitter.com/wbYQ9QuxVi
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 30, 2026
The arrival of the migrants prompted local authorities to ask Spain’s central government in Madrid to declare an emergency and deploy reinforcements to Ceuta to manage the ongoing border crisis. Officials in Spain’s Ministry of the Interior ultimately rejected the request, according to Fox News.
“The declaration of a national emergency is part of the state civil protection regulations, which do not consider migratory flows as a risk to the National Civil Protection System, nor do they establish special plans, basic guidelines, or specific civil protection instruments for their management,” they said.
“Therefore, it is not possible to activate this mechanism, as requested by the president of the Government of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas,” they added.
However, pro-migration Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did at least vow in a tweet that he was “mobilizing all necessary resources.
“We are mobilizing all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normalcy as soon as possible,” he wrote in Spanish:
El Gobierno de España está volcado en dar una respuesta inmediata a la situación en Ceuta.
Estamos movilizando todos los recursos necesarios, trabajando con las autoridades marroquíes e internacionales, y preparando las medidas necesarias para recuperar la normalidad lo antes…
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) July 30, 2026
His tweet prompted stern backlash centered around his previous pro-migration activism, including his decision earlier in the spring to grant legal status to 500,000 migrants.
“You f–king wanker, you created the mess,” British anti-migration activist Tommy Robinson wrote. “You are a traitor to your people, every Spanish citizen that is raped or murdered by an invader their blood is on your hands.”
Javier Negre, a conservative Spanish journalist and the owner of La Derecha Diario and UHN Plus, also slammed Sánchez’s policy decisions.
“When they cross the border as minors, you cannot send them back to Morocco,” he told Fox News. “The Spanish state has to take care of them and pay money to NGOs to care for these minors until they turn 18.”
“It’s proof that Europe and Spain are on the verge of becoming a failed continent because of the future policies and promotion of this illegal invasion under Pedro Sánchez,” Negre added.
Even the Trump administration took a stab at Sánchez.
“President Trump has long warned Europe what would happen if they continue to implement far-left, globalist policies, including enabling mass migration,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said.
“Spain and other countries who have adopted this destructive philosophy should immediately reverse course or risk their own demise,” she added.
Sánchez previously penned a widely panned column for The New York Times in February calling for more migration into the West.
“The West needs people. Currently, few of its countries have a rising population growth rate,” he alleged in the column. “Unless they embrace migration, they will experience a sharp demographic decline that will prevent them from keeping their economies and public services afloat.”
“Their gross domestic product will stagnate. Their public healthcare and pension systems will suffer. Neither AI nor robots will be able to prevent this outcome. … The only option to avoid decline is to integrate migrants in the most orderly and effective way possible,” he added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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