The official Spanish news agency Efe reported on Thursday that thousands of migrants crossed on foot into occupied Ceuta in North Africa, after passing several border checkpoints. According to local Moroccan media, since July 20, the city has witnessed a noticeable increase in attempts to migrate irregularly by swimming from the Moroccan coast, at a rate of more than 200 people per day in some periods. "We are facing a complete humanitarian and social emergency," Ceuta Governor Juan Jesús Vivas said in statements broadcast on Spanish television on Thursday. In other explosive statements he made on Wednesday, Juan Jesús Vivas said, “Over the past few days, more than 1,500 migrants, adults and minors alike, have arrived in Ceuta by sea.” Vivas warned that continuing the current pace of arrivals could repeat the crisis scenario of 2021, when the city witnessed the influx of thousands of migrants in a short period. He continued: "The reception centers are completely overcrowded and unable to receive more. According to statistics published yesterday, the number of arrivals exceeds 200 people per day." For its part, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced in a statement that several ministries are coordinating among themselves to respond “with the utmost speed and efficiency” to the situation in Ceuta. She added that Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will visit the city on Friday to “follow up the situation” and meet with local officials, noting that the government has strengthened the necessary resources “to ensure security and control immigration, in addition to providing the necessary humanitarian aid to ensure that no lives are endangered at sea.” She also indicated that the Moroccan government is working “continuously and in good faith with Spain and is cooperating closely with it to address the situation,” stressing that “Moroccan security forces are preventing the arrival of large numbers of people trying to cross from Morocco to Ceuta.” For years, immigration from Morocco to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla has become a sensitive political issue between the two countries. These developments coincided with a legal and political debate within Spain, following the issuance of a decision by the Supreme Court stipulating that the immediate return of minors arriving in Ceuta could not be implemented, which sparked criticism from some Spanish officials who considered that this might encourage an increase in crossing attempts, while political parties are calling for amending the immigration law to fill this legal vacuum.