Morocco firmly rejected on Monday accusations from Spain that it had deliberately enabled the sudden influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Rabat attributed the crisis to a Spanish court ruling in July that weakened immediate deportation measures for migrants arriving by sea.
A senior Moroccan official stated that Spanish authorities should have anticipated the consequences of the July 8 verdict, which now limits the swift repatriation of migrants intercepted at Ceuta’s maritime borders.
According to Moroccan authorities, the ruling was quickly exploited by smuggling networks. They claim these networks spread the false narrative that migrants would now be protected once inside Spanish territory. “Europe demands that we prevent crossings, yet when they happen, the red carpet is rolled out,” the official remarked.
Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, had earlier accused Morocco of “encouraging and facilitating” the surge in arrivals. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also cautioned against the misuse of irregular migration as a tool to pressure an EU member state.
Morocco asserted that it neither relaxed border controls nor reduced security measures ahead of last Thursday’s mass crossings. The country claims to maintain a permanent deployment of nearly 24,000 security personnel along its northern coast to curb illegal migration.
Moroccan authorities reported preventing 79,000 crossing attempts in 2024 and 74,000 in early 2026. They emphasized that cooperation with Spain on migration control had been “exemplary” until the court’s decision in July.
Rabat urged Madrid to reinstate effective deterrence mechanisms while stressing that Morocco “will never be complicit in a purely security-driven approach to migration.”
