María Tardón, a judge at the National High Court, has asked the National Police’s General Directorate for Immigration and Borders (UCRIF) to produce a report on the “massive irregular entry” of tens of thousands of people from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30 and 31, with the aim of determining whether this constitutes a “co-ordinated action”.
The judge has agreed to open a preliminary investigation following a criminal complaint lodged by the organisation Iustitia Europa on July 30, directed against civil servants, “members of criminal organisations” and Spanish and foreign authorities who may be identified. The complaint is based on alleged offences against State Security, against the Nation, facilitating illegal immigration and human trafficking, criminal organisation and failure to fulfil the duty to prosecute offences. This organisation considers that the National High Court has jurisdiction to investigate these matters due to the transnational nature of the events and “the possible commission, from foreign territory, of criminally relevant acts aimed at facilitating irregular entry and causing direct criminal consequences in Spain”.
In a ruling issued today, the judge orders the UCRIF to provide “any identifying details of those who may have been involved in such actions” or “any evidence” relating to the events, and orders that the Public Prosecutor’s Office be informed of the opening of proceedings. It also notes that the question of the National High Court’s “criminal jurisdiction” over the alleged events is still pending “resolution”.
Iustitia Europa explains in its complaint that the “mobilisation” of migrants from Morocco to Ceuta “cannot be characterised as an ordinary or spontaneous migratory phenomenon” due to the “temporal scale and the concentration of thousands of individuals simultaneously setting out to sea from the Moroccan coast”. “We are witnessing the exploitation of migration flows which, given their scale and the manner in which they are carried out, overwhelm the capacities of the state’s security forces and reception services, thereby jeopardising territorial integrity and public safety at an external border of the European Union,” it states.
Furthermore, “the passivity observed on the coasts of origin suggests a deliberate relaxation of border controls by Morocco, which could constitute necessary cooperation or deliberate tolerance to allow the mass exodus to Spain, using migratory pressure as a tool of political or diplomatic coercion, and this is not the first time this has happened on this scale,” he added.
Around 50,000 people entered Ceuta en masse last Thursdaya via the Tarajal breakwater on the border with Morocco, an incident that has cost the lives of at least 72 migrants, according to figures from the Government Delegation in the autonomous city.
An article written by Rtve.Es / Agencias (RTVE), initially published on 3 August 2026, 11:34 (CEST)