French politicians leverage Spain’s Ceuta crisis to paint conflicting portraits of immigration

Experts argue leaders are relying on powerful imagery to tell politicized stories that don’t represent the full truth of migration in the EU. People walk on a beach as they attempt to cross from the Moroccan northern town of Fnideq to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo) PARIS (CN) — French politicians are using the ongoing migration conflict in Spain’s Ceuta enclave to fuel opposing narratives heading into next year’s presidential election. While the extreme-right National Rally has denounced an “out of control” situation with “looting, violence and continuous arrivals,” the hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is advocating for better coordination to bolster humanitarian aid. “By regularizing the status of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, Socialist [Spanish] Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has opened Europe’s doors to every danger,” the National Rally, known as the RN, said in a newsletter released Tuesday. “The result is plain to see: Thousands of migrants are flooding into the enclave of Ceuta. Tomorrow, they will be on our streets, against the will of the French people.” On July 30 and 31, tens of thousands of Moroccans crossed into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa by land and sea , circumventing border controls in the hopes of getting residency status in Europe. People were likely encouraged by social media posts, which spread misleading information about entering the territory. Since then, the vast majority of migrants have left Ceuta, either voluntarily or by the order of Spanish authorities. Just a few thousand, including minors, remain. But experts argue the situation will make a lasting impression on French politics, and leaders have been making their positions clear. “Rather than instrumentalizing the situation against the government of a neighboring country of a friendly nation, as [RN leader Marine Le Pen] is doing, we should call for European coordination for humanitarian aid,” Mélenchon posted on X. “There are already 27 dead: Let us not leave Spain to face the ordeal alone!” A 12-year-old unaccompanied minor who crossed into Spain is escorted by a Spanish soldier to the Spain-Morocco border as the child begs not to be sent back to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) More than 70 people died in Ceuta and 11 in Morocco, with some sources reporting further deaths. Experts warn the swift political response to Ceuta risks glossing over critical facts, data and history. Patrick Weil, a political scientist and author of the recently released “On Immigration in France,” said of the roughly 100 million foreigners who pass through France every year, only a fraction remain on the territory without documentation. “That proves that the system doesn’t work so badly — we need to stop shouting that there is a general disfunction, which is not at all the case,” he said. “The images can make a strong impression, so they must be interpreted.” Widespread criticism about the Schengen area — which allows for freedom of movement between 29 countries across Europe, including Spain and France — has also been misleading, he said, since Ceuta has its own set of rules. People who arrive in Ceuta cannot enter mainland Europe without undergoing border checks. That didn’t stop Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from suspending freedom of movement between Italy and Spain for one month, starting July 31. “Then, there was the reaction … saying that it calls Schengen into question, when in fact it didn’t call it into question at all, since the vast majority of the people who arrived en masse have left, and there was never any question of them being transported to the European mainland afterward,” he said. “So the Schengen and cooperation agreements with countries of origin and transit countries work as well as possible, by deterring most people who want to emigrate from doing so, as we can see here.” Jean-Baptist