World·UpdatedSpain and Morocco reinforced the border fence of a Spanish enclave on Friday and appeared to have largely halted mass crossings after tens of thousands of people arrived by sea and land in a day, with ‌at least 19 dead bodies found in the water.Shock and division in Europe after mass crossing in North AfricaThomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 31, 2026 4:47 AM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Spain deploys military after thousands of migrants enter Ceuta10 hours ago|Duration 2:03Spain deployed troops to reinforce police after thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa. The scene was reminiscent of 2021, when about 10,000 migrants entered the territory.Spain and Morocco reinforced the border fence of a Spanish enclave on Friday and appeared to have largely halted mass crossings after tens of thousands of people arrived by sea and land in a day.At least 34 people have died, officials say, after some 60,000 crossed into Ceuta in the past few days, the leader of the Spanish enclave in North Africa, Juan Jesus Vivas, told reporters on Friday.The mass crossing into Ceuta — a tiny Spanish-held spit jutting into the Mediterranean from Morocco — caused shock and division in Europe. France said it was increasing checks on its border with Spain, and Italy threatened to suspend Spain from the European Union's internal ​open border scheme.At the gates into Ceuta, Moroccan authorities had deployed water cannon trucks and pushed people ​back. The charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen nearby from clashes with the crowds.Spanish authorities said they would try to expel those who had entered illegally as quickly as possible, despite a court ruling that put some restrictions on special "border rejection" rules that allow immediate expulsions from the enclave. Spanish Prime ​Minister Pedro Sanchez, known for rejecting the anti-immigration sentiments expressed elsewhere in Europe, told reporters on Friday that the mass crossings were a "violation of Spain's territorial sovereignty." He said he asked Morocco to step up its efforts to curb the outflow of people.A migrant from Morocco arrives at the Spanish border, in Ceuta, Spain on Friday. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, have the ⁠European Union's only land borders with Africa. The two ⁠cities, each home to around 85,000 people, both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking ‌to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday's rush had little precedent.Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres said on Friday that among factors contributing to the surge may have been a ruling by Spain's Supreme Court earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under special rules.To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about five kilometres to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.On the Moroccan side of the border, thousands of migrants streamed into the town of Fnideq overnight despite a reinforced deployment of security that foiled most attempts to cross. Although the crossing appeared blocked, groups moved along the coast seeking routes around the fence. Some prepared to swim.Migrants in the water attempting to cross the border between Ceuta and Morocco on Friday. (Marcos Moreno/Europa Press/Getty Images)"I was late," said Brahim, 32, who gave only one name. He said he had arrived from ‌Tangier hoping to cross through the gate but found it effectively shut. Among those hoping to cross were women and children, from both Morocco and sub-Saharan African countries further south.In a post on X, Spain's Guardia Civil police association AUGC said there had been too few police in place to monitor the fence during the surge on Thursday, making them unable to stop it.Migration is a sensitive issue across Europe, where right-wing parties have surged in the decade since a 2015 crisis when more than a million people crossed the ​continent mainly on foot and sought asylum, most fleeing war in Syria.French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had already issued instructions "to immediately step up checks at the Spanish border."Nunez's statement did not spell out what that meant in practice and there was no immediate response ⁠to a request from the ministry for further comment. There are normally no checks at borders between members of the EU's internal Schengen Area, though they can be introduced for a limited time ⁠in exceptional circumstances.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday he welcomes Spain's intention "not to allow illegal migrants onto the European mainland."'Absolute chaos' as thousands of Moroccan migrants breach Spain's Ceuta borderItaly's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was prepared "to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area ⁠with Spain."Finland's ⁠interior minister, also from a right-wing party, praised Meloni's proposal and said the ​EU should follow Italy's lead.While Spain's Socialist government says it remains firm over illegal crossings, it says immigrants help strengthen the economy and has offered a mass amnesty that saw hundreds of thousands of people ​seek citizenship over the past year."The images coming from ⁠Ceuta show how the Madrid Government's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly wrong and encourages human trafficking," Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote.Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares replied that Tajani's message was "inappropriate," and said Spain expected "solidarity and not partisan demagoguery" from its partner. He added he would summon the Italian ambassador to protest.With files from The Associated Press