Italy orders suspension of free movement and shuts maritime and air borders following unprecedented migrant surge in Spanish enclave.
Italy’s Interior Ministry has ordered the closure of the country’s maritime and air borders with Spain, temporarily suspending the Schengen free movement regime between the two nations. The measure had already been announced on Thursday afternoon by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, following the arrival of thousands of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, located in North Africa.
Clashes, Fires and Arrests Erupt at Ceuta and Melilla Border Crossings
The mass influx of migrants into Ceuta, which reached 49,000 according to Interior Ministry figures and up to 60,000 according to the Autonomous City authorities since Thursday morning, has pushed the enclave to the brink of collapse. The arrival of migrants onto Spanish territory, whether on foot via the Tarajal border breakwater or by swimming, overwhelmed Civil Guard border forces and forced the Spanish Government to deploy the military to reinforce border control.
The figure quadruples the number of arrivals to Ceuta during the 2021 crisis and marks the largest migratory pressure on the Moroccan border in the entire 21st century. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday described the images from the Ceuta migration crisis as “unacceptable” and called for “an immediate halt to dangerous crossings” into the city, following the mass entries from Morocco, which represent the largest crossing recorded on the border since May 2021.
🚨BREAKING: Italy has now officially SUSPENDED the Schengen agreement with Spain after the Ceuta migrant invasion
— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) July 31, 2026
Pedro Sánchez is furious.
Every EU nation must follow. 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/5ANv37nXvg
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez travelled to the autonomous city on Friday alongside Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, where he stated that following conversations with Moroccan authorities, “what underlies this is the self-serving interpretation that human trafficking mafias have made of a Supreme Court ruling.” In his view, this interpretation “spread like wildfire through the mafia networks trafficking in human beings” and produced “an avalanche of the magnitude we witnessed yesterday.”
Von der Leyen Demands Fast Returns as Ceuta Migrant Crisis Nears Breaking Point
Rabat and Madrid have announced that those who entered irregularly will be returned to Morocco. Throughout the night, pressure has remained on the Ceuta border, with thousands of people resisting efforts to leave the area and attempting to cross by sea to the Spanish enclave in what is already the most serious bilateral migration crisis since 2021, which has left at least 57 dead, according to the Ceuta Government Delegation. Italy’s decision to suspend Schengen cooperation with Spain and close its borders reflects growing European alarm as the crisis continues to escalate, with member states confronting the urgent need for coordinated action to address the unprecedented surge in irregular crossings along the Moroccan-Spanish frontier.
