Italy has suspended the Schengen agreement with Spain, closing its air and sea borders amid the recent influx of irregular migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, as the US blames Spanish government policy for the situation.
The Italian Interior Ministry on Friday ordered the closure following the entry of about 50,000 migrants into Ceuta since Thursday, according to ANSA news agency.
The decision followed an assessment by the Committee on Analysis of Immigration and Border Security, chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.
Earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, under fire from some of his peers in the EU over an influx of migrants into Ceuta, said: "This is not the time to divide."
"It is the time to continue building a strong and united EU," he added in a post on X that included statistics on the number of irregular entries into other parts of Europe.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone as a result of the situation.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain's policy of offering hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country a legal status.
"They are replacing Spaniards with migrants," Babis said.
‘Invasion of the West'
The United States blamed Spanish government policy for a migrant surge in the North African enclave of Ceuta.
"This unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government's deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe," the Department of State said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump portrayed the migrant surge in Ceuta as a warning for America if his opponents get into power.
"I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place," Trump told a meeting of his cabinet at the presidential Camp David retreat in Maryland.
"It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger."
The US State Department issued a statement blaming Spain's government for "deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe."
Without giving details, the statement said Washington was "considering actions to defend Americans at home and abroad from this threat and stand ready to assist other European allies considering similar options."
Trump's vice president, JD Vance, posted news footage of the Ceuta migrant wave and said it highlighted "radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West."
"These images out of Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration," Vance posted on X.
Latest situation
Clashes resumed near Ceuta as thousands of migrants seeking to cross irregularly confronted Moroccan security forces, while Spain said around 49,000 people crossed into the territory over the previous 24 hours.
An Anadolu correspondent said Moroccan security forces prevented groups of migrants from approaching the border fence, prompting some to set fire to cars and a passenger bus near the crossing.
Spanish authorities have said more than 48,300 of the approximately 50,000 migrants who entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta since early Thursday have returned to Morocco, according to EFE news agency.
EFE reported that the figures, compiled as of 1330 GMT, followed an earlier ministry statement that returns from Ceuta to Morocco were taking place at a rate of about 150 people per minute.
Despite the large number of departures, thousands of migrants remained in different neighbourhoods of Ceuta with no clear destination, according to the report.
