Intelligence Warned Day Before 70,000 Pushed Into Ceuta — EU's €115 Million Still Prioritizes 'Reinforcement and Deportation'

Against the backdrop of dozens of migrant drownings and thousands of unaccompanied minors stranded in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, the EU announced this week approximately €115 million in emergency funding for Spain. The list of uses for this funding — thermal imaging cameras, surface buoy systems, underwater drones, migrant screening facilities, and the capacity to deport people to Morocco — reveals Brussels' prioritization in the aftermath of this crisis.

According to Deutsche Welle, European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen said: "The situation in Ceuta is putting our external borders under pressure. Our message remains clear: we are committed to fighting illegal immigration and ensuring the rapid deportation of those who remain illegally in Ceuta." The funding was originally applied for by Spain to the EU on August 24.

On the same day, Madrid declassified more than 40 documents — internal alerts, intelligence reports, and communications records from multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The documents paint a picture in tension with the Sánchez government's public narrative.

According to a declassified memo obtained by Deutsche Welle, Spain's National Intelligence Center sent an urgent notice to Ceuta authorities the day before the incident, warning of signals of "multiple calls for operations to enter Ceuta." The document specifically noted: "According to reports, two different groups have a combined 180,000 followers, to give a sense of scale." CENIF, the border division under the National Police, also issued a warning about social media groups the day before, saying it had detected within migrant communities "attempts to organize a mass crossing operation on the night of July 29, 2026."

On July 30 and 31, approximately 72,000 people poured in from Morocco across the Ceuta border fence, with images of the assault shocking both inside and outside the EU. According to Deutsche Welle, the vast majority of those who crossed have been deported, but thousands remain in Ceuta, "many of them vulnerable unaccompanied minors."

The gap between the warnings and the crisis is being politicized. Prime Minister Sánchez argued on social media that the National Intelligence Center's alerts were sent only to Ceuta's local authorities and were not relayed to the military or the Ministry of Defense. He wrote: "Given the information available at the time, no one could have foreseen the migration crisis of July 30 and 31. No capable institution foresaw it. Neither in Spain nor in the EU."

But the scope of the warning's dissemination itself is being scrutinized. Madrid's High Criminal Court has opened an investigation into whether Moroccan authorities facilitated the mass crossing — although Sánchez had previously said there was no "conclusive evidence" pointing to Morocco. Deutsche Welle also reported that the incident has triggered public rifts among EU member states, most notably the confrontation between Spain's left-wing government and Italy's far-right leadership.

Placing "fighting illegal immigration" alongside "ensuring rapid deportation" in official language is itself a policy direction choice. According to the EU statement cited by Deutsche Welle, the €115 million will be used to "strengthen border surveillance, border protection, and security-related infrastructure" and to "support the deportation of persons remaining illegally in Ceuta." Within this framework, the intelligence warnings that preceded the crisis, the lives lost during it, and the minors stranded in the enclave afterward are all folded into the same budget line item labeled "external border pressure."