Spain: How Many Illegal Migrants Have Really Returned to Morocco?

Monday, August 3, 2026

Spain: How Many Illegal Migrants Have Really Returned to Morocco?



-European Conservative

This past week, Spain and all of Europe, were shocked by the illegal storming into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by tens of thousands of illegal migrants from North and Sub-Saharan Africa, by some estimates, 50,000-70,000. Many of them arrived by swimming from the Moroccan coast to the enclave located on the North African coast.
Spain was unable to house them as their reception center was overflowing, causing many to camp out on the street leading up to the Ceuta reception center.
Other European countries reacted with alarm, and Italy's government announced that it would closely check arrivals coming by air from Spain in spite of the EU's Schengen Agreement, which allows free travel across borders once someone is inside the EU territory. Spain reacted with anger, and it has led to a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Now Spain is announcing that the overwhelming majority of the arrivals have decided to return to Morocco, seeing that there are no accommodations and they will not be allowed to simply travel wherever they want in Europe. At least several hundred or perhaps a few thousand have refused to go back, and the numbers are in question.
Courtesy of Gates of Vienna, I am cross-posting two articles describing the situation in Ceuta, one from the European Conservative here, and the second from the Hungarian Conservative here. The latter features a video of several migrants running through the streets of Ceuta shouting, "Allahu Akhbar!".