{"id":108087,"date":"2026-08-02T18:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T18:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/108087\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T18:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T18:32:09","slug":"italy-takes-extraordinary-step-after-60k-migrants-rushed-spanish-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/108087\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy takes ‘extraordinary’ step after 60K migrants rushed Spanish city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy has temporarily suspended its free-travel pact with Spain after 60,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa suddenly poured into the Spanish city of Ceuta<\/a> last week \u2014 rattling EU leaders.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s dramatic move, announced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni<\/a>, is meant to prevent migrants from entering her country after they flooded into the Spanish territory following socialist leader Pedro Sanchez\u2019s immigration-friendly policies.<\/p>\n

She said Italy is taking \u201can extraordinary measure, adopted to safeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vehicle on fire during the mass border crossing in Ceuta on July 31, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Migrants swimming around a border barrier between Morocco and Ceuta. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Meloni is suspending her country\u2019s part in the Schengen Agreement, which allows free-flowing travel between 29 EU countries, with Spain for one month.<\/p>\n

Ceuta, a Spanish city of about 83,000 people surrounded by Morocco on the Mediterranean coast, is one of only two land borders between the EU and Africa.<\/p>\n

Images of tens of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa trying to breach fences and swim around jetties to get into Spain\u2019s city of Ceuta have raised fear in Europe of a new immigration crisis.<\/p>\n

Migrants passing through a whole in a fence at the Ceuta border. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thousands of migrants crossing the border from Morocco to Ceuta, Spain, on July 31, 2026. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The death toll from the mass border crossing has risen to 72 people. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

In response, Spain installed a 1,600-foot floating barrier<\/a> to make it harder to get around the border. Officials also said most of the migrants who made it across were expelled back to Morocco.<\/p>\n

Italy went the farthest in its response, but the leaders of Finland and Denmark also criticized Spain for failing to protect its borders, and France stepped up its border checks at Spanish crossings.<\/p>\n

The interior ministers of 22 EU countries are slated to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss border security.<\/p>\n

Migrants celebrating after entering Ceuta on July 31, 2026. JALAL MORCHIDI\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Spanish soldiers escorting migrants out of Ceuta on Aug. 2, 2026. AP Photo\/Bernat Armangue<\/p>\n

Sanchez hit back at the criticism and implied that it was a manufactured crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarizing and unlawful reaction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One political ally in Spain went so far as to suggest Israel and the Trump administration were to blame for the Ceuta breach \u2014 as punishment for Sanchez\u2019s strong stance on Gaza and refusal to allow the US to use Spanish air bases for planes headed to the Middle East for the Iran war.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy has temporarily suspended its free-travel pact with Spain after 60,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa suddenly poured into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[289,39,4,40,308,36220,172,879,5721,54855,108,314],"class_list":["post-108087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-africa","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-italy","tag-migrants","tag-morocco","tag-sociali","tag-spain","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}