Swedish right seizes on Ceuta migrant crossing to advance anti-immigration rhetoric

Sweden’s right has turned the mass migrant crossing into Ceuta into an argument against Pedro Sánchez and pro-immigration politics, even though the cause of the breach remains contested.

Migration Minister Johan Forssell rejected Carl Bildt’s assessment that signs point towards Moroccan involvement. He instead blamed Spain’s Socialist government, Sánchez’s migration policy and its regularisation programme. Forssell also attacked Swedish Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson for previously praising Spain’s governing party.

The response extended across the governing bloc. Radio Sweden reported that Forssell ruled out Sweden accepting relocated migrants, while Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson demanded consequences for Spain within the Schengen area.

That rhetoric outran the known facts. Spain’s programme concerns people who were already living in the country before 1 January 2026. It did not grant the Ceuta arrivals automatic entry, and most of the estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people who crossed returned to Morocco within a day.

Sánchez says smugglers spread a false account of a Supreme Court ruling on sea arrivals. Moroccan activists reported border-open rumours, and AP witnessed Moroccan gendarmes initially standing aside. At least 67 people died.

Forssell is entitled to oppose Spain’s policy. But presenting an unsettled border crisis as proof that a left-wing government invited the crossing advances an anti-immigration narrative before the evidence establishes that conclusion.

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