Swimming to Spain
2nd August 2026
The current crisis in Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, involves African migrants swimming around the barriers designed to keep them out of Spanish territory. Last week’s sudden surge was prompted by a recent Spanish Supreme Court decision that prohibited authorities from pushing arriving migrants back into Morocco.
Which goes to show that those earnest Moroccan residents who long to become “New Spaniards” have been paying close attention to Spanish political affairs, so that they know when the time is ripe to make their move.
Ceuta is much closer to the Spanish mainland than Melilla, the other Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast. As a result, the bodies of drowned culture-enrichers have been washing up on the shores of Malaga in Andalusia.