A tunnel discovered under Latvia's border with Belarus and a deadly migrant rush into Spain's Ceuta enclave have pushed European migration policy sharply toward securitisation, leaving progressive voices isolated as even centre-left governments adopt the language of border control over humanitarian protection.
At the end of July, tens of thousands of irregular migrants crossed into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, leaving around 100 dead. The episode opened a deep diplomatic rift between Rome and Madrid over how migration should be managed and exposed Spain's growing isolation as right-wing political forces came to dominate the debate. Latvia's discovery of a smuggling tunnel under its border with Belarus this week underscored the security-first framing now dominating EU discourse, with officials stressing the need to protect the integrity of external borders and the security of the Union.
The Human Cost and the Policy Response
The Ceuta influx triggered a diplomatic fallout between Italy and Spain after Giorgia Meloni's government reinstated border controls for air and sea arrivals following the irregular inflows. Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland also called for the swift restoration of control over the EU's external borders and floated reintroducing checks within Schengen. Commissioner for Internal Affairs Magnus Brunner wrote on X: "I was in contact with both the Spanish and Italian interior ministers today. Both confirmed that the internal border controls are temporary."
Italy and Denmark led an open letter, signed by 22 EU governments, addressed to the leaders of the EU institutions and calling for "addressing all policies that can serve as pull factors, such as the regularisation of very large numbers of irregular migrants." Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU Council presidency, Portugal, Spain's historic ally, France, which has also criticised right-wing migration policy, and Luxembourg did not sign the letter.
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez had faced criticism from his EU peers at the last European Council over his plan to regularise around half a million migrants who entered the country illegally. Sánchez said: "The Spanish government will use all the levers of the state, all the resources of the state, to guarantee the security of the citizens of Ceuta," and called the mass influx a "violation of Spain's territorial integrity."
Civil Society Warns of Marginalisation
Chiara Catelli, an advocacy officer at the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said: "In the past years, there has been a progressive shift towards a more securitarian language from both traditionally conservative politicians and left-leaning ones." She added: "The result of treating migration as a security problem with ever more repressive measures is to foster social exclusion and marginalisation, while also criminalising solidarity towards migrants."
MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Spain/S&D and a former justice minister, said: "At the European scale, the right wing and the nationalist, reactionary attitude towards migration is the prevailing one." MEP Cecilia Strada, Italy/S&D, said the Spanish government is regularly attacked by right-wing parties in the European Parliament because Sánchez remains the last bastion of progressive migration policy at an EU level.
Return Hubs and the New Migration Rules
The right-wing turn in EU migration policy was cemented by new legislation endorsed by European governments and lawmakers in June, which includes stricter surveillance measures, restrictions on the freedom of movement and the possibility to establish "return hubs" in third countries. Return hubs are a controversial initiative spearheaded by Italy in Albania to establish facilities for processing asylum requests and repatriation orders outside EU borders. The Netherlands and Denmark are also outspoken supporters of the approach.
In an op-ed published in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, EPP leader Manfred Weber called for the swift establishment of return hubs in Africa, pointing to Morocco's cooperation during the Ceuta crisis, as the country immediately agreed to take back most of those who had crossed the border illegally. French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed return hubs as ineffective and contrary to EU values. At the last EU summit, 19 leaders signed a joint declaration calling to make "full use" of Europe's new migration rules, an implicit nod to the establishment of return hubs.
Commission Adopts Security Language
Senior Commission officials have adopted a similarly securitarian approach. In a special committee meeting in the European Parliament, Brunner said: "we cannot accept such a breach of the integrity of our external borders and a violation also of the security of the Union." Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a letter to Sánchez: "From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points, both with vigilant monitoring and the use of physical barriers where needed."
In Spain, Meta and TikTok agreed to fact-check content about border crossings after the deadly rush to Ceuta, a private-sector response to misinformation around the border incident.
Why This Matters:
The Ceuta crisis and the tunnel discovery in Latvia mark a turning point in European migration governance — one that prioritises deterrence and border security over asylum rights and legal pathways. The death of around 100 people in Ceuta is a stark reminder of the human cost of policies that treat migration primarily as a security threat rather than a humanitarian and structural reality. Spain's isolation within the EU reflects a broader shift: even social democratic governments are adopting the language of borders and control, leaving civil society organisations and a handful of MEPs to defend the rights of migrants and asylum seekers. The new migration rules endorsed in June, including the possibility of offshore processing in return hubs, represent a fundamental departure from the principles of the Geneva Convention and the EU's stated commitment to human rights. As the centre-left loses ground on migration, the risk is not just to migrants themselves but to the solidarity and democratic values that underpin the European project. Denmark's centre-left Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen working closely with Italy's Giorgia Meloni on migration policy is a signal of how far the debate has shifted — and how few alternatives remain on offer.