CEUTA: Almost all of the tens of thousands of migrants who entered Spain’s enclave of Ceuta in North Africa had left by Saturday, officials said, as some EU countries bolstered their border controls over the sudden influx.

An estimated 60,000 migrants entered Ceuta over just a few days from neighbouring Morocco, the enclave’s regional president Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters, but by Saturday almost all had left.

“The situation has been almost entirely reversed,” interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters.

Under the watch of Spanish soldiers and police, the remaining young migrants continued crossing back over the border to Morocco.

Any who lingered too long on the coastal path were immediately ushered back out by the soldiers.

To cross into Ceuta, many swam around a small border barrier that juts out into the Mediterranean. Sixty-seven people died in the attempt.

“We hope to go to Europe to work and earn a living. That’s it,” Souleye Bodian, 19, a Senegalese migrant, said outside a migrant centre in Ceuta where dozens of other sub-Saharan African migrants waited for officials.

“We all know that in Africa there isn’t much opportunity,” he said.

The sudden influx of migrants had sparked political panic in Europe.

Coordinated response

The EU said it would hold a video meeting on Tuesday after 22 bloc members issued a joint open letter calling for a meeting of interior ministers “as a matter of urgency” to agree a speedy coordinated response, and to “prevent further uncontrolled crossings”.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X: “Defending the external borders of the Union is not the interest of a single nation. It is a shared responsibility of Europe.”

Italy suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain allowing for visa-free movement between borders as of Saturday for one month.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in a letter to the heads of the European Commission and European Council, blasted the “selfish” reaction by some EU countries. He backed a video meeting of interior ministers.

Ursula von der Leyen, the EU chief, said on X that the bloc needed “a lessons-learned process to improve our European resilience”, while pointing out that “not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU” during the influx.

Madrid had rushed security personnel and equipment to the North African outpost that it has run for centuries.

After a night of wandering the beaches and streets of Ceuta or sleeping on the sand, eyewitnesses observed, some young people turned back to say “adios”, or “goodbye”, to officials before crossing back to Morocco.

More soldiers stood guard on the small beach next to the border fence, positioned under parasols in the morning.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2026