After hundreds of migrants entered the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, Italy’s foreign minister demanded that the Schengen area be closed to Spain. Antonio Tajani expressed his support for “closing the Schengen area with Spain” in a post on X, claiming that “irregular and uncontrolled immigration poses a threat to national security.”
The pictures from Ceuta demonstrate how the Madrid government’s decision to give over 500,000 undocumented migrants Spanish citizenship, and hence European citizenship, is utterly foolish and promotes human trafficking,” he continued. Following the crossings, which saw several migrants swim over the border to enter the area, the Spanish government announced on Thursday that it would send troops to Ceuta to bolster security.
The regional president of Ceuta warned that local officials were overburdened by the increase in unauthorized crossings and requested Madrid to declare a national emergency and take control of the autonomous city.
At first, the Spanish Interior Ministry had decided against declaring a national emergency. Later, it declared that troops would be sent in to help reestablish law and order and strengthen security. Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, is scheduled to visit Ceuta on Friday as opposition political pressure mounts.
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