Ceuta, together with ‌Melilla - another Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa - represents the European Union's only land border with Africa. Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach ​Europe.

Speaking in separate interviews with radio stations Cadena SER and Onda Cero, ​Juan Jesus Vivas said the recent influx had overwhelmed the city's ⁠reception system and left hundreds of migrants sleeping outside.

"We are facing a situation ​of absolute humanitarian and social emergency," Vivas told Cadena SER, adding that facilities for ​unaccompanied minors were operating at 2,400% of capacity.

In comments to Onda Cero, he described the situation as a national emergency and called for a "decisive, forceful, immediate and coordinated" response under a ​single command structure.

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will travel to Ceuta on Friday ​to meet local authorities and security chiefs, as the Spanish government said it was coordinating across ‌multiple ⁠ministries to strengthen border control and provide humanitarian assistance.

Arrivals were currently averaging about 300 people a day, according to Vivas. At that pace, he warned, Ceuta could face a situation comparable to the May 2021 migration crisis, when 10,000 people entered ​the enclave in mere ​days.

Vivas also pointed ⁠to the human cost of the crossings, saying 60 bodies had been recovered at sea in recent months, and argued that ​stronger migration controls would help prevent further deaths.

The interior ministry ​said Moroccan ⁠security forces were helping to curb arrivals from its territory.

Vivas called for changes to Spain's immigration framework, saying legal shortcomings exposed by a recent Supreme Court ruling needed ⁠to ​be addressed.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that ​migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under the ​enclaves' special border-rejection regime.