The US State Department raised its travel advisory for Ceuta, Spain's autonomous city in North Africa, to Level 3 and urged its citizens to reconsider travel. The warning was updated after tens of thousands of irregular migrants crossed uncontrollably from Morocco into Ceuta.
US Deputy Secretary of State Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital that the situation was a "mass invasion of tens of thousands of illegal migrants." Johnson said, "This invasion is the direct result of the Spanish government's refusal to secure its borders and protect its people, and it now threatens Europe's security."
Spain responds with military forces
Spanish authorities deployed troops, National Police and Civil Guard units to the area after tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco into Ceuta in the past week. Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas announced that around 60,000 people entered the city in 24 hours. Spain's Interior Ministry estimated around 50,000 arrivals since Thursday. Thousands later returned to Morocco, according to reports.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that the number of security forces would be increased, a sea barrier would be set up to facilitate returns, and cooperation with Moroccan authorities would continue to combat human trafficking networks. Sánchez said the migrant influx was linked to a misinterpretation by human trafficking organizations of a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling on migrants arriving by sea.
Trump calls it a 'disaster'
US President Donald Trump addressed the situation in Spain during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David. "I saw Spain yesterday and watched the disaster unfolding there. It looks like hundreds of thousands of people are invading the country. If Republicans aren't elected, the same thing will happen to us," he said.
Trump later told a Fox News White House correspondent, "Horrible. Remember that photo. If the wrong side wins, we'll be like that in three years."
Ceuta and the other Spanish territory of Melilla, located on the African mainland, have long been hotspots for irregular migration because they are within the borders of Spain and the European Union.
