Spain claims 25,000 African migrants already sent home as authorities expel 150 people per minute

A mass deportation is underway in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta Friday, as about half of the 60,000 migrants who charged into the diminutive territory Thursday have either left or been sent back to Morocco, Spanish authorities said — claiming they’re removing a staggering 150 people per minute.

The sudden wave of migrants hit Ceuta like a tidal wave as the marauders, many of whom showed up penniless and clad only in swimming clothes, bathed in public fountains and turned the streets into their own personal toilets.

The territory was quickly overwhelmed as its regular population of around 85,000 swelled by nearly 70%, leaving local police, national police and even an army deployment struggling to keep the peace as shops closed down and residents barricaded themselves inside, afraid to walk the streets.

Following a statement by Ceuta’s president Juan Jesús Vivas that the number of mostly-Moroccan migrants who crashed Europe’s only land border with Africa had risen to 60,000 and that 34 people had died, Spain’s Ministry of the Interior issued a statement that the crisis was working toward resolution, and that more than 25,000 of the border crossers had been sent home.

In a news conference Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the invasion as “an attack” and a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”

“Ceuta is a Spanish city, and what happened yesterday deserves our full reproach, our condemnation at the strongest possible level of rejection, condemnation and consideration as deplorable,” he said, noting that he’s ordered buoys be placed as a “physical barrier” to protect the border.

Sánchez said the number of troops deployed to Ceuta has increased, and they are now joined by divers and maritime service vessels.

“Ceuta is a Spanish city, and what happened yesterday deserves our full reproach, our condemnation at the strongest possible level of rejection, condemnation and consideration as deplorable,” he said.

Sánchez also assured the Spanish government is at work ensuring nothing like this will happen again — and said the country’s legislature is working on passing a system that would “facilitate the repatriation of migrants who entered our country irregularly.”

He added that the government could even “modify” existing laws to “guarantee those border repatriations as efficiently as possible.”

The shocking migrant surge follows a ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court earlier this month, which said migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, cannot be kicked out under the enclaves’ special border-rejection regime.

The prime minister blamed what he called “human trafficking mafias” for taking advantage of the Spanish Supreme Court’s immigration ruling.