Judge María Tardón, instructor of the National Court, announced this Monday that she is taking over the investigation into the massive irregular entry of migrants to Ceuta on July 30 and 31. The judge, who has the support of the Prosecutor's Office to take this step, explains that she sees signs of crimes that compromise the peace or independence of the State and against the rights of foreign citizens, in connection with reckless homicide, as well as criminal organization. “We are faced with criminal conduct allegedly committed abroad that has seriously attacked the territorial integrity of Spain, which is guaranteed in Article 2 of the Constitution,” insists Tardón.
Through a broad 26-page resolution, the judge details the content of the National Police report collected on the massive entry into the autonomous city and emphasizes that, according to the evidence provided, this stratagem was “used”—“to which irregular migratory flows have been added that have seriously affected the lives and rights of the citizens of Ceuta”—to “destabilize national security.” “These were not actions of incidental, occasional or spontaneous nature,” María Tardón adds, but rather “a process in which the migratory purpose operated only as formal coverage.”
“There has also been evidence of a clear and undoubted management that favors the process from the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco, on the Fnideq beach itself and places surrounding said space in the city of Castillejos,” says the judge, who focuses on the questionable “behavior of the Moroccan Security Forces,” “confirmed and graphically contrasted” through images disseminated by the press and social networks. In this sense, the judge emphasizes that, as noted in the report prepared by the National Center for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) of the Police, the Rabat agents not only demonstrated enormous "permissiveness" during the mass entry, but also took on the task of "actively guiding" the people who wanted to cross the fence that marks the Spanish border.
"It is noted how the uniformed police officers [of Morocco] themselves are giving instructions to people who illegally crossed the border, to direct them to [points] where they can carry out the crossing and overcome the existing obstacles in said access. And even organizing access to the area that leads to Fnideq Beach, and within its own waters," continues the resolution issued this Monday by the National Court.
The instructor thus frames these maneuvers within an attempt to “attack the Spanish State” through a “violation of its territorial integrity.” And he even paraphrases the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE). "As the President of the Government pointed out during his visit to Ceuta on July 31, 2026, he defined the events as 'an attack, a violation of the territorial integrity of Spain'. And this through a massive migratory flow that constitutes one of the characteristic methods of the 'hybrid war' or 'gray zone', with the aim of altering the lives and rights of Spanish citizens, specifically, of an entire autonomous city," Tardón elaborates.
In July, when she was on duty and after receiving a complaint from the extra-parliamentary party Iustitia Europa, the magistrate requested police reports on the massive entry into Ceuta. The judge, who also asked the Prosecutor's Office for an opinion on whether she had the authority to undertake this investigation, wanted to collect all this data before deciding whether to keep the investigations — as she announced this Monday. “This massive entry cannot be considered an isolated or casual event, nor can we speak of an event due to spontaneous generation,” Tardón argues.
To reinforce her thesis, the judge recalls that the authorities estimate that more than 70,000 people entered the autonomous locality - although a definitive figure has not yet been established due to the "difficulties in making such a calculation, derived from different factors such as the collapse of the border control system and the simultaneity of entry and exit flows throughout July 31" - but that the majority of these alleged migrants "were not seeking to remain in Spanish territory." In fact, as he points out, they left Ceuta in a “relatively orderly” manner.
Along these lines, the magistrate maintains that various social networks were used to “achieve a massive propagation of the call” to enter Ceuta. "Telephone numbers [that participated simultaneously] in several of the monitored groups have been identified. Numbers of administrators and numbers of participants who act as promoters of the message, who have served as loudspeakers for the transmission of messages," highlights the resolution of the National Court, which considers that the number and profile of the people mobilized (including children) sought the "collapse" of the Spanish border management and its response capacity.
“A notable presence of family units, women and young children deactivates the possibility of using coercive means or using reactive force to reestablish control and operation of the border,” states María Tardón's opinion, which simultaneously emphasizes that the alleged instigators of the entry acted with “absolute disregard for the life and physical integrity of some of the most vulnerable people who were part of it.” "The total number of bodies recovered in Spanish territorial waters has been 83."
The resolution of the National Court does not identify who may be behind all these alleged coordinated maneuvers. But he leaves numerous darts: "The actions of 'hybrid war' or 'gray zone' are typical of States, criminal organizations or terrorist organizations committed against States." “The [National Police] report identifies different levels of action, from digital promoters to organizers on the ground and those responsible for eventual strategic planning.” “This is a large-scale operation.” "It must be ruled out that we are facing the direct responsibility of any of the criminal immigrant trafficking organizations that operate in said geographical area, beyond the mere opportunistic use on their part of some of the effects of the crisis that has occurred."
Popular accusations
The investigating judge has accepted the appearance of several popular accusations in the procedure: among them, Iustitia Europa, the PP, the far-right group Vox and the ultra-Catholic group Hazte Oír. However, he has rejected the political party Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF), led by ultra agitator and MEP Luis Pérez, alias Alvise; who filed a complaint for crimes against humanity “without the slightest justification or explanation”, “expressly and nominatively directed against the king of Morocco, his Minister of the Interior, his general director of National Security and Territorial Surveillance and the commanders of his Auxiliary Force and the Gendarmerie.” “[It is] a mere political instrumentalization of the exercise of criminal action contrary to the principles and foundations of the criminal process,” the judge reproaches him.
For her part, the judge rules out declaring the secrecy of the entire case, as requested by the Prosecutor's Office; and establishes that only those specific investigations that are commissioned and that, due to their nature, may put the security of the State at risk or compromise the “success of the investigation” will be kept secret.
