The Moroccan government has firmly rejected accusations from Spain alleging that it deliberately enabled the recent surge of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. In a statement issued on Monday, Moroccan officials attributed the crisis to a Spanish court ruling that undermined existing measures to deter irregular migration.
A senior Moroccan official pointed out that the Spanish judiciary’s decision, handed down on July 8, restricted the immediate repatriation of migrants arriving in Ceuta by sea. This legal shift, they argued, was swiftly exploited by smuggling networks, which spread the message that migrants would now be protected upon reaching Spanish territory. «Europe demands that we prevent crossings, yet on the other side, a red carpet is rolled out once they arrive,» the official stated.
Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, had earlier accused Morocco of «encouraging and allowing» the influx of migrants. Meanwhile, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned against the politicization of irregular migration as a tool to pressure an EU member state.
Morocco has consistently denied relaxing border controls or scaling back its security presence ahead of last Thursday’s mass crossings. Authorities in Rabat assert that nearly 24,000 security personnel are deployed along the northern coast to combat illegal immigration. They report thwarting 79,000 crossing attempts in 2024 and 74,000 so far in 2026, describing their collaboration with Spain on migration control as «exemplary» until the July judicial ruling.
The Moroccan government has urged Madrid to reinstate effective deterrence mechanisms while emphasizing that it «will never be complicit in a purely security-driven approach to migration.»
