OPINION:
On July 30 and 31, the Spanish enclave of Ceuta was invaded by as many as 72,000 Muslim, mostly military-age men crossing from Morocco. The men swam around seawalls and rushed fences to enter the Spanish territory of about 80,000 residents, looting the streets, ransacking local shops, and terrorizing the locals.
Italy temporarily suspended the Schengen free movement, which allows passport-free travel and movement among all European Union (EU) members, and imposed emergency controls on air and sea travel, concerned that migrants might head to the country. More than a month after the Spanish invasion, Italy’s temporary suspension is still in effect.
In early August, the mainstream media assured the world that most of the Muslim invaders returned home and the crisis was over. The coverage of the small Spanish enclave stopped, with most news organizations memory-holing the incident. The narratives returned to how open borders are compassionate, globalism is good, and Islamophobia is bad. Nothing to see in Ceuta.
Not so fast.
More than a month later, Spanish prosecutors say sexual assaults are happening almost every day in Ceuta. Twenty-three rapes or attempted rapes, including nine against children, have been recorded in Ceuta since the mass influx occurred. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez estimated 5,000 migrants remain, although Human Rights Watch, which traveled to Ceuta to assess the damage, reported there may be as many as 10,000.
“Thousands of people have been in the streets in a legal vacuum, exposed to sexual violence and without adequate shelter, food, or sanitation for almost three weeks,” Judith Sunderland, senior associate director for refugee and migrant rights at Human Rights Watch, said on August 21. “Despite the challenging situation, Spain should quickly mobilize sufficient resources to ensure humane and orderly management of the crisis for the good of migrants and Ceuta residents alike.”
In January, Spain’s socialist-led coalition approved a decree regularizing 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, which went into effect in April. All applicants have to do is prove they don’t have a criminal record and have lived in Spain for five months.
Addressing parliament in October 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the country was at a demographic crossroads and needed migration to grow its economy and maintain its welfare state.
“Some say we’ve gone too far, that we’re going against the current,” Mr. Sánchez said in a video posted on social media after the decree was passed. “But I would like to ask you, when did recognizing rights become something radical? When did empathy become something exceptional?”
Because of the shortage of housing, shower and toilet facilities in Ceuta, the remaining migrants have taken over its beaches, parks, empty lots, and sea – defecating on public property and harassing residents. The Moroccan migrants routinely lob stones and bottles at local army patrols. Shops have remained closed, and doors have been locked at home.
As of Aug. 20, Human Rights Watch saw no indication that Spanish authorities had begun any legal procedures or individual assessments of adults. Most of the migrants expressed their wish to apply for asylum in Spain. Under EU rules, Spain should have already screened everyone, including security and health checks.
On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Ceuta normally celebrates Sept. 2, 1415, when the first Portuguese governor disembarked a few weeks after Portuguese soldiers claimed the territory. Ceuta passed into Spanish hands in 1580. The annual commemoration usually consists of an official ceremony, musical performances, and cultural programs.
But not this year.
“In lieu of festivities, tens of thousands of people took to the streets Wednesday across Spain to protest the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ceuta, demanding solutions and blaming Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for his government’s handling of it,” the Associated Press reported.
Waving Spanish flags, demonstrators shouted “SOS. Europe, save us from our traitor government,” “expel the invaders,” and “Sanchez to prison.”
“What happened to us was not a migratory crisis,” Ceuta’s regional leader, Juan Jesús Vivas, told the AP on Wednesday. “What happened was the violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”
He’s urging Mr. Sanchez to secure the resources to restore Ceuta to normal and to strengthen its border with Morocco, rather than leaning on the neighboring state to act in good faith.
Mr. Vivas’s pleas, so far, have fallen on deaf ears.
Spain’s socialist government wrote off Wednesday’s protests as politically motivated and accused the right of exploiting the crisis for political benefit.
“Left-wing collectives and unions organized counter-gatherings in several cities, including Madrid, to condemn ‘racist and Islamophobic persecutions and attacks’ against migrants in Ceuta since the rush,” Reuters reported.
And Mr. Sanchez, himself, blamed the invasion on social media “disinformation” fueled by none other than Russia and Israel, a claim both countries have denied.
Of course, Mr. Sanchez produced no evidence of this “disinformation”; however, blaming others is much easier than accepting responsibility for his own government’s open-border policies.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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