‘Enough Is Enough’: Thousands Of Ceuta Residents Protest Spain’s Handling Of Migrant Invasion

After more than 70,000 African migrants crossed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta in a border surge late last month, Spaniards are decrying their government’s handling of the chaos.

Thousands of residents of the Spanish exclave gathered on Sunday in the Plaza de la Constitución, chanting “Enough is enough” and “Ceuta will not surrender,” according to Reuters. Some demonstrators could also be heard shouting “Ceuta is not for sale. Ceuta is Spain” and “Sánchez, resign,” referring to the far-Left Spanish prime minister.

Others accused the Spanish government of “abandonment.”

Hundreds of Ceuta residents held a demonstration on Sunday demanding solutions to the migration crisis, under the slogan “Enough, Ceuta won’t give up.” Residents in the Spanish enclave gathered at Plaza de la Constitución, waving Spanish flags and chanting Ceuta’s anthem. pic.twitter.com/6FL7jdJa1Y

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 10, 2026

In late July, thousands of migrants, many of them young men, crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, located on the African continent, by swimming or climbing border barriers. Mainland Spain is just 11 miles from Ceuta, which has a population of 83,000, and is accessible by ferry.

Many of the migrants have since returned to Africa after failing to obtain documents to reach mainland Spain and complaining about the lack of food and support in Ceuta.

More than 1,300 migrant children remain in Ceuta, leaving government officials scrambling to address the issue, according to Euronews. Ceuta’s president argued the children should be returned to Morocco in what he’s characterized as an “absolutely unsustainable” situation.

All the while, the Spanish government says that the children who can’t be reunified with their families back home should find refuge and support in territories like Ceuta.

“Many of the unaccompanied migrant boys and girls do not have families, so in these cases the autonomous communities must act as their guardians and guarantee their rights,” said Sira Rego, Spain’s minister for youth and children.

The border crush came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants crossing by sea cannot be immediately deported.

Earlier this year, Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez opened the door for more than one million migrants to receive amnesty to counteract the world’s “MAGA-style leaders,” according to The New York Times.

Spain received more than double the number of applications it had initially predicted.