Trump blames Spain for migrant chaos, 57 die in border rush

Spain said that it had reversed a huge rush of migrants into a Spanish enclave in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border by land and sea ​already heading back voluntarily. The Spanish government's representative in Ceuta said 57 bodies had been recovered on the Spanish side of the border and that there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side. ‌It said some drowned and some were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.

Spain said it reversed a huge rush of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily https://t.co/LJrJGhIozZ pic.twitter.com/DIegyDxVe3

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 31, 2026

Meanwhile,US President Donald Trump led far-right attempts Friday on both sides of the Atlantic to make political capital from Spain's migration crisis, portraying the migrant surge in Ceuta as a warning for America if his opponents get into power. "I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place," Trump told a meeting of his cabinet at the presidential Camp David retreat in Maryland. "It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger."
Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel claimed in an X post that "Ceuta was left in ruins overnight" by the mass influx from Morocco. She argued that Germany is "likely the destination for most of these migrants". "Germany must prepare itself: borders must be secured and rejections rigorously enforced," wrote Weidel, whose party is backed by top Trump officials.
Both Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the populist right-wing ruling coalition in Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone as a result of the situation. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a Trump supporter, said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain's policy of offering hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country a legal status. "They are replacing Spaniards with migrants," Babis said.
The Trump administration leapt on the Ceuta crisis in a coordinated messaging barrage. The State Department issued a statement blaming Spain's government for "deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe". Without giving detail, the statement said Washington was "considering actions to defend Americans at home and abroad from this threat and stand ready to assist other European allies considering similar options".
Moroccan security forces used batons and tear gas to push back crowds gathered at the entrances to Ceuta to stop more people from entering the small Spanish territory on Morocco's Mediterranean coast,a news agency reported. On the Spanish side, military vehicles were stationed along parts of the border, while dozens of migrants remained on a hill in Morocco, watching from a distance after being unable to cross. Hundreds of migrants said they had been unable to find food or shelter after reaching Ceuta.

Almost everyone who entered Ceuta yesterday has now returned to Morocco.

It is not possible to travel from Ceuta or Melilla to mainland Spain without presenting identification at a police checkpoint. The integrity of the Schengen area is fully guaranteed. https://t.co/F2s3JWN4bF

— Embassy of Spain UK (@EmbSpainUK) July 31, 2026

Ceuta's authorities have linked the sharp rise in arrivals this week to a Spanish Supreme Court ruling issued earlier in July. The court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea cannot be immediately sent back under the enclaves' "border rejection" system, which has long been used to return people caught attempting to enter. The decision does not cover migrants who cross by land, including those who climb over the border fence. Earlier this year, the government introduced measures to grant residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in Spain without legal permission.