Ursula von der Leyen has called for action ahead of an urgent EU interior ministers meeting to discuss the issue.

Most of the Moroccan adults have either voluntarily gone home or were pushed back by Spanish police. Among those who remain in Ceuta are significant numbers of people from other countries, including Sudanese fleeing their war-torn country, Palestinians from Gaza and Afghans, as well as people from several African nations.

Spain and Morocco reinforced the border fence of a Spanish enclave after around 49,000 people arrived by sea in one day. Dozens of bodies have been recovered, Spanish authorities said.

Spain on Saturday installed a 500-meter-long (1,600-foot) barrier on the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and neighboring Morocco after tens of thousands of migrants breached

The dramatic events were “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Friday on a hurried visit to Ceuta.

Most of those who came to the territory, a Spanish exclave in Africa, have returned across the border to Morocco. At least 67 people died trying to enter, the authorities said.

People in Ceuta, Spain, walk toward the country's border with Morocco July 31, 2026, leaving Spain amid mass crossings of migrants on foot and by sea from Morocco into Spanish territory. The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 40,