Thousands of Migrants Remain in Ceuta, Boosting Spain’s Far Right

At least 5,000 migrants remain in Ceuta after as many as 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish North African city a month earlier. Tensions between migrants without housing, local residents and police have become Spain's dominant news and debate topic, according to the column.

The crisis has battered Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's popularity. A recent poll cited in the commentary predicts a right-wing victory in next year's election, with the populist Vox party emerging as the biggest winner.

Sánchez has forcefully rejected opposition accusations that he was too accommodating toward Morocco. He has also clashed with Defence Minister Margarita Robles, who says Spain's intelligence service, the CNI, warned the government one day before the large influx on July 30 and 31.

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not only to attack Ceuta but also Europe

In a Monday interview with the government-friendly SER radio network, Sánchez said Israel, Russia and an international far-right movement had spread social-media lies that encouraged people to enter Ceuta, “not only to attack Ceuta but also Europe.” Israel's Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem immediately accused him of lying to avoid responsibility for his poor administration.

Spain's radical left, which supports Sánchez in Congress, has also blamed Israel, but from the opposite direction. Izquierda Unida and Podemos have pointed to Israel's close ties with Morocco and accused the two countries, together with the United States, of wanting to punish Spain for its policies on Iran and Palestine.

The government wants to begin “express deportations” sending people from Ceuta back to Morocco without completing all formal procedures. Migration officials in Ceuta oppose weakening the rules. During a similar 2021 crisis, when 14,000 people entered the city, Spain returned people to Morocco without processing their asylum claims, and officials responsible were punished. Moroccan media have mocked Spain's opposition but treated Sánchez's government relatively mildly, except for Robles, who has refused to clear Morocco of accusations that it orchestrated the influx.

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express deportations