{"id":38729,"date":"2026-08-07T19:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/38729\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T19:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:23:13","slug":"italy-vows-to-maintain-border-checks-despite-spains-countermeasures-threat-migration-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/38729\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy vows to maintain border checks despite Spain\u2019s countermeasures threat | Migration News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid warns of \u2018proportional measures\u2019 if Rome does not put an end to checks amid fallout from Ceuta migrant crisis.<\/p>\n

Published On 7 Aug 20267 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

Italy has doubled down on its temporary reinstatement<\/a>\u00a0of border controls following the deadly rush<\/a> of thousands of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, even after Madrid threatened retaliation.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, the Italian government said it would not bow to \u201cultimatums or impositions\u201d from \u2060Spain and would maintain border controls until at least August 15.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The refusal came hours after the Spanish government declared a two-day deadline for Italy \u201cto rectify, put an end to the checks and treat Spaniards like other European citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it does not do so before the end of Sunday, August 9, Spain will be obliged to adopt proportional measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens,\u201d Spain\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic tit-for-tat unfolds as Spain continues to reel from the influx of some 72,000 people who crossed<\/a> into Ceuta from Morocco last week, on foot and by sea.<\/p>\n

Mass arrivals in the North African Spanish enclave angered other European Union leaders who have taken a hard anti-migration stance, including far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.<\/p>\n

Italy earlier said it would temporarily reintroduce border checks with Spain starting on August 1 in what Meloni called an \u201cextraordinary measure\u201d seeking to \u201csafeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet experts said<\/a> there was little prospect of migrants travelling from Ceuta to Italy, particularly as Italy and Spain do not share a land border. Rights groups instead pegged Meloni\u2019s move as \u201cpolitical theatre\u201d.<\/p>\n

Still, 22 EU member states signed a joint letter accusing Spain of \u201cpull factors\u201d that destabilise the bloc\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the Ceuta migrants have since returned to Morocco as authorities tallied at least 100 deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also on Friday, Spain said its police successfully dismantled a people-smuggling operation believed to have brought 2,000 migrants into the country via Spain\u2019s southeastern coast and the island of Ibiza.<\/p>\n

\"TOPSHOTMigrants swim around a border barrier with Morocco to enter the Ceuta enclave on July 31, 2026 [AFP]Unaccompanied minors<\/p>\n

Amid the political fallout, Spanish leaders are grappling with a humanitarian crisis still ongoing in Ceuta.<\/p>\n

Of the few thousand undocumented migrants who remain in the enclave, at least 1,342 are children, Youth Minister Sira Rego said on Friday \u2013 hundreds of whom are unaccompanied.<\/p>\n

Rego acknowledged \u201cpainful images\u201d of children sleeping on Ceuta\u2019s streets, noting that two schools had been opened as authorities evaluated more locations as possible reception centres.<\/p>\n

Still, Ceuta authorities said at least 1,100 children needed assistance, with Ceuta\u2019s theoretical capacity only totalling 90 places where people could be housed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might only be a matter of a few weeks before we start seeing [children] transferred to and welcomed on the mainland,\u201d Rego told reporters.<\/p>\n

Local and international charities have cautioned that the children face abuse and exploitation.<\/p>\n

\"MigrantsMigrants who crossed from Morocco into Spain line up for food distribution on a beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, August 3, 2026 [Bernat Armangue\/AP]<\/p>\n

Jose Miguel Morales, head of Federacion Sur Acoge, a migrant rights and assistance group in southern Spain, said some of the children were under 14 years old and had already been beaten and assaulted.<\/p>\n

But the transfer of children to the mainland has become a domestic flashpoint in Madrid, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez\u2019s government approved 25 million euros ($29m) to help support unaccompanied minors in the territory.<\/p>\n

Leaders from the far-right, anti-immigration Vox party were quick to say they opposed any aid for migrant children.<\/p>\n

Vox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on X that \u201cnot one euro from Spaniards\u201d should go \u201cfor illegals, for invaders\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madrid warns of \u2018proportional measures\u2019 if Rome does not put an end to checks amid fallout from Ceuta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[241,1415,6344,5,332,36,356,148],"class_list":["post-38729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-human-rights","tag-italy","tag-migration","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}