A group of migrants approach the border post to make their way back to Morocco, escorted by Spanish infantry soldiers, in the Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta, on August 2, 2026. Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP
Madrid: Last week's surge of irregular migrants into Spain's north African territory of Ceuta did not "compromise" Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone, the Spanish interior minister said on Tuesday.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska added that Spain had already returned to Morocco 70,000 of the 72,000 migrants who reached Ceuta, raising an earlier figure of around 50,000 arrivals.
The unprecedented rush from July 30 claimed 72 lives, according to the government -- with people drowning as they tried to swim around a border barrier in the Mediterranean Sea -- and sparked a diplomatic spat with Spain's EU partners.
"It is clear that in no way was the Schengen area compromised in this crisis," Marlaska told reporters in Madrid following emergency talks with EU counterparts.
"We all agreed that the Schengen zone was never in the least danger," he said, adding that "there was no possibility of any secondary movement" of migrants from Ceuta to continental Europe.
Border passport checks are in force between Ceuta and mainland Spain.
The entry of the migrants sparked tensions with Spain's EU partners, with Italy and Denmark calling for the country to be suspended from the bloc's Schengen free-travel area.
Tuesday's meeting was therefore expected to be tense, but Marlaska said it passed off "in an absolutely constructive tone".
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has defended a more open approach to irregular immigration in contrast with tougher policies promoted by European peers.
This year his government launched a scheme to grant legal status to irregular migrants already living in Spain that is expected to benefit around 500,000 people, mostly Latin Americans.
