Pedro Sanchez Defends Handling of Ceuta Migrant Crisis

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed the Congress of Deputies on September 3, 2026, to defend his government's response to a July mass crossing of 72,000 migrants into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. Sanchez stated that no intelligence service anticipated the event and attributed the influx to social media rumors. To ensure transparency, he ordered the publication of a full dossier of documents regarding the crisis.

Sanchez denied that the Government of Morocco orchestrated the crossing, asserting that no international body provided solid proof of such a plan. This position contradicts a Spanish police report alleging the entry was a planned operation enabled by the total permissiveness of Moroccan security forces. The report specifically claimed that the Gendarmerie of Morocco failed to disperse crowds and that some uniformed officers may have directed migrants toward the crossing point during a peak 10-hour period on July 30.

Domestically, Sanchez faces mass protests in Madrid and Seville and demands for his resignation from opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who accused the government of a cover-up. Internationally, the crisis has strained relations, prompting Italy to impose border restrictions on arrivals from Spain. In response to the instability, Sanchez urged King Felipe VI to visit Ceuta and Melilla to demonstrate state support for the territories.