An estimated 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco on July 30–31, 2026, after a June Spanish Supreme Court ruling barred authorities from immediately returning migrants who arrive by water. Migrants exploited the ruling by walking into the sea on the Moroccan side of the border and technically arriving “by water” on Spanish territory just meters down the coast. Although most returned to Morocco within hours of the initial crossing, thousands remained in the small city, which has only 80,000 inhabitants.
Spanish police sources told El Español they were aware of 15 sexual assault complaints and two arrests, while the National Police confirmed to fact-checker Maldita.es that six complaints had been filed by minors as of August 11. Spain’s largest police union, the SUP, told Reuters that 15 sexual assaults of varying severity had been reported since July 30 and that the significant majority of the victims were underage. However, the Interior Ministry and police declined to confirm the figure.
Health Minister Mónica García said the city’s crisis center for women had treated five people. Courts remanded nine migrants who arrived on July 30 into custody on charges including sexual assault, burglary, and attacking officers. Three of those nine cases involved sexual assaults against migrant women who crossed the same day.
In one case reported by Spiked, three men described as brothers were stopped while allegedly attempting to sexually abuse a 10-year-old girl. Separately, Ceuta University Hospital treated at least five girls under 14 for suspected rape, according to Euronews. All had arrived from Morocco during the influx. Judicial sources said local residents intervened to prevent several additional attempted assaults.
Spanish television network Cuatro aired footage of local mothers describing changed routines for their daughters. One mother said her 16-year-old daughter “has to go everywhere with her father or with me,” while Ceuta mothers separately demanded the school year be delayed, with one saying she “would not let my daughter come to school alone.”
A month after the initial influx, tensions boiled over into open unrest. On August 27, hundreds of Ceuta residents sat across the road near Benítez Beach for more than two hours, blocking Red Cross vehicles carrying food and water from reaching the El Trampolín migrant camp. Protesters chanted, “They should leave” and “Out with the Red Cross,” according to Euronews. Some protesters broke through police cordons and entered the camp, where they dismantled and set fire to migrant shelters and belongings.
The unrest followed an incident earlier that morning in which roughly 70 migrants attacked a military vehicle carrying four soldiers with stones, prompting police to detain 12 Moroccan migrants. City Finance Councillor Kissy Chandiramani told news radio SER that residents “feel abandoned” by the national government’s lack of response.
Spain is moving migrants from Ceuta to the mainland. Once on the Iberian Peninsula, they are inside the EU’s Schengen Area, although this does not automatically grant them the legal right to move freely throughout it. About 500 unaccompanied migrant girls are being transferred from Ceuta to mainland Spain. Roughly 1,400 to 1,500 unaccompanied minors remain in the enclave’s care.
Migrants who are not swiftly deported are held for processing “for entry into Spain and, from there, the rest of the EU.” This pathway was opened by the June Supreme Court ruling rather than through a formal admissions policy.
European leaders argued that a recent royal decree signed by King Felipe VI may have incentivized the sudden surge in arrivals in Ceuta. On January 27, 2026, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved the decree, granting one-year residency and work permits to an estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants already in the country.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took the strongest stance, calling the Ceuta images “shocking” and saying Spain should be suspended from the Schengen Area, the EU zone in which most member states have abolished passport checks at their shared borders. On July 31, Italy temporarily suspended normal Schengen travel arrangements with Spain by reintroducing border checks on travelers arriving from the country. Meloni described the “uncontrolled immigration” as a threat to national security, according to the House of Commons.
Finland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and the Czech Republic joined Italy in calling for Spain’s suspension from the Schengen Area. Separately, leaders of 22 EU nations signed a letter accusing Madrid of undermining bloc-wide migration rules, according to RT.
Not all reactions were critical of Spain. At an emergency EU summit, member states issued a statement expressing “strong solidarity with Spain” and praising the “swift and effective efforts of Spanish authorities.” The statement confirmed that the large majority of those who crossed into Ceuta had been returned to Morocco, with no onward movement to mainland Spain or other member states, according to the House of Commons Library.
Left-wing MEPs, including Spain’s Javi López, called Italy’s position “unworthy of a European partner.” They argued that after Italy received EU support for more than 700,000 arrivals from Libya, “solidarity is not a one-way street.”
The episode has reopened the question of whether Schengen’s border-free structure can withstand a crisis triggered by a single member state’s national court rulings and residency policies, particularly when other capitals view the consequences as their own border security problem.
Italy’s unilateral suspension of Schengen arrangements with a country it does not even border has no clear precedent as a means of using internal EU rules to punish another member state’s domestic migration policies. The move suggests that the union’s response to a Ceuta-scale event remains largely improvised. More than a decade after the 2015 migration crisis, the EU still has no mechanism in place for individual countries to protect their own borders from the consequences of liberal policies adopted by other member states.
In fact, even Italy’s suspension of normal Schengen arrangements with Spain can be challenged before an EU court.
Under the terms of the agreement, Italy can temporarily reinstate border controls to protect against a “serious threat to public policy or internal security,” but the application of these terms remains open to legal interpretation. Furthermore, because Italy does not share a land border with Spain, a court could find that there is no direct security threat, dismissing the fact that migrants can fly into Italy or travel through France before entering the country.
Similar migration patterns have been documented across Europe. Rather than seeking asylum in the first safe country they reach, migrants often cross multiple countries in an attempt to reach wealthier nations with more liberal or generous welfare and migration policies, such as Germany or the Scandinavian countries. Others may prefer France or Italy over Spain.
