The White House sharply criticized Spain’s left-wing government Thursday after the border at Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, was overwhelmed by migrants crossing from Morocco.
“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 told Fox News in a statement.
“Spain and other countries who have adopted this destructive philosophy should immediately reverse course or risk their own demise.”
Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas asked Thursday for a national emergency declaration after more than 2,000 migrants entered the Spanish territory from Morocco over the previous 10 days. Videos from the area showed disorderly scenes as large groups crossed into the enclave.
In one video, groups of men who appeared to be of military age were seen smiling, posing for cameras and running through the streets, with some carrying swimming flippers as authorities tried to regain control.
Migrants run and cheer as they cross on foot into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco after swimming over from the Moroccan side and overwhelming police at the city’s breakwater, according to Spain’s Guardia Civil, in Ceuta, Spain, July 30, 2026. (Faro TV via Reuters)
Additional footage showed migrants coming out of the water, climbing onto Ceuta’s rocky coastline and moving around sections of border fencing.
Vivas formally urged Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to declare a national emergency to support the response to the border crisis, according to Spanish media reports. Madrid rejected the request.
“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. Therefore, it is not possible to activate this mechanism, as requested by the president of the Government of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas,” Spain’s Ministry of the Interior said in a statement, according to Spanish outlet El País.
Ceuta’s government, in its request for a national emergency declaration, noted that immigration from Morocco is always a problem for the Spanish enclave but claimed the last 10 days represented a peak “of particular intensity.” That peak has seen more than 2,000 migrants cross the border in the past 10 days, Ceuta officials said, according to El País.
Spanish and Moroccan maritime patrols, supported by Spain’s Maritime Rescue service, conduct rescue operations off the southern coast of Ceuta after a sharp increase in migrant arrivals to the Spanish enclave in North Africa. (Antonio Sempere/JNA Press/Sipa USA)
“The Government of Spain is fully committed to providing an immediate response to the situation in Ceuta. We are mobilizing all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normalcy as soon as possible,” Sánchez wrote in a Thursday post on X.
Sánchez has faced considerable backlash from his country’s conservatives for his policies on immigration, with many arguing that Spain’s policy of guaranteeing social services to minors who illegally enter the country incentivizes mass migration.
Migrants cross on foot into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco by attempting to swim, according to Spain’s Guardia Civil, near the border with Ceuta, in Fnideq, Morocco, July 30, 2026, in a still image obtained by Reuters (Reuters)
“When they cross the border as minors, you cannot send them back to Morocco,” Javier Negre, a conservative Spanish journalist and owner of La Derecha Diario and UHN Plus, told News Outlet.
“The Spanish state has to take care of them and pay money to NGOs to care for these minors until they turn 18,” Negre continued.
“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.”
Sánchez, for his part, has claimed that accepting migrants is necessary to keep Spain’s economy alive, arguing the country’s low birth rates necessitate accepting immigrants.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, delivers a statement at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
“The West needs people. Currently, few of its countries have a rising population growth rate,” Sánchez wrote in a February op-ed in The New York Times.
“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.”
News Outlet contacted the offices of Sánchez and Vivas for further comment.
