Sanchez blames smugglers for surge in Ceuta migrant arrivals

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the mass arrival of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta was triggered by human smugglers' misleading interpretation of a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling on migrant deportations, according to Report's European bureau.

Sanchez told journalists during a visit to the North African enclave that criminal groups spread information among migrants claiming that people who reached Ceuta by swimming could not be immediately returned across the border because such cases did not involve a physical crossing of the border line.

"It appears that this interpretation of the Supreme Court's ruling has spread like wildfire in recent hours through the networks of human trafficking mafias and led to the influx of the scale we witnessed yesterday," Sanchez said.

Spanish authorities are accelerating the processing of deportation documents for the newly arrived migrants and have ordered the installation of floating buoys along the coastline. According to Sanchez, the buoys will create a physical reference point that will allow return procedures to be carried out in line with the court's ruling.

The government is also considering legislative amendments to make border return procedures "as effective as possible."

Responding to journalists' questions, Sanchez declined to blame Morocco for the situation, stressing the importance of maintaining cooperation with Rabat and other countries of origin and transit.

"If we want to fight the mafias and reduce irregular migration, we need to cooperate with countries of origin and transit," the prime minister said, adding that cooperation with Morocco remains essential for speeding up migrant returns.

According to Sanchez, the mass crossing into Ceuta interrupted the downward trend in irregular migration recorded in recent years. Since the beginning of 2026, the number of irregular arrivals in Spain has fallen by about 36–37%, following a decline of around 50% in 2025.

Earlier this month, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta could not be returned under a simplified procedure. That procedure had previously been applied to migrants detained while attempting to cross the border fences. The Spanish government believes that criminal organizations' interpretation of the ruling was one of the main factors behind the sharp increase in migrant arrivals.