After thousands of migrants stormed into Spain’s exclave of Ceuta, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday threatened to suspend Schengen free-travel arrangements with the country.

As Spain has long been the main point of arrival for illegal immigrants into Europe, a major influx into the country is likely to raise tensions in neighbouring countries, particularly at a time when far-right forces are gaining strength across the continent.

Meloni said that visuals from Ceuta were a reminder that “uncontrolled illegal immigration represents a real threat to the security of Europe’s borders”. She said that her government would pursue extraordinary measures in respond to the crisis.

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“We are convening the relevant bodies, and following these meetings, we are prepared to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain. On illegal immigration, we will not retreat by a single millimetre: defending the borders, stopping human traffickers, and ensuring effective repatriations will continue to be the policy of this Government,” said Meloni.

The Schengen Area is a passport-free travel zone in Europe. This means that a person who legally enters Spain can generally travel to other Schengen countries without undergoing separate immigration checks at each border. Most European Union (EU) member states are part of the Schengen Area. But countries may temporarily reintroduce border checks in exceptional circumstances, which appears to be what Meloni is suggesting.

Le immagini che arrivano da Ceuta sono impressionanti e dimostrano, ancora una volta, che l’immigrazione clandestina fuori controllo rappresenta una minaccia concreta per la sicurezza dei confini europei.

Mi sono confrontata con il Ministro dell’Interno Matteo Piantedosi.…

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) July 30, 2026

Mobs on Thursday climbed over a border fence or swam to the shores of Ceuta. The reason behind the sudden surge in arrivals was not immediately clear.

A Ceuta official told The New York Times that they have estimated that tens of thousands have entered the exclave illegally in the ongoing wave.

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The situation is “absolute chaos”, and border control has “totally collapsed”, Rachid Sbihi, chief of the Spanish Civil Guard Association, told The Associated Press.

The Ceuta administration has asked the federal government to declare a national emergency and has sought the deployment of additional police and troops amid the influx. The Spanish government said it was dispatching military to strengthen border security, increasing air and naval support, and sending divers to patrol the waters, but stopped short of declaring an emergency.