Thousands of African migrants have swarmed to Spain as the authorities have made pleas to Madrid to declare a national emergency.
A Spanish enclave in north Africa has been plunged into a social and humanitarian crisis after 1,500 migrants reached the city of Ceuta across from Morocco in the past week.
In videos posted on social media, hundreds of people can be seen running up the beaches and hills of Ceuta.
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain which borders Morocco.
The city, along with Melilla, another Spanish enclave, is the only EU land border with Africa.
Juan Jesus Vivas, Ceuta's president, said on local television: "We are in a situation of total humanitarian and social emergency."
In other televised comments, he added: "In the past few days more than 1,500 migrants, both adults and minors, have come to Ceuta by sea.
"The reception centres are saturated – there is no more room for anyone in them and according to yesterday's figures the number of people entering is more than 200 a day."
There has been an increasing number of people swimming across the Moroccan border to the Spanish enclave in the past few days
|FARO.TV
He continued to say facilities for unaccompanied minors are at over-capacity, operating at 2,400 per cent.
Mr Vivas calld for the Spanish Government to declare a national emergency, requesting the police and army to be deployed to the border.
He wrote on social media: "With every passing hour, the situation becomes more difficult."
Spain's interior ministry said in a statement that the Government was "acting in coordination to respond with the utmost speed and efficiency to the situation in Ceuta".
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Migrants approaching a police boat in Cueta
|FARO TV / Handout via REUTERS
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain's interior minister, will be heading to Cueta tomorrow to meet officials and "monitor the situation", the department said.
This comes after the Spanish Government approved plans to give legal status to half a million undocumented migrants.
The move would allow these people to officially enter the Spanish workforce.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in April this year, the plan was both "an act of justice" and a necessity for the country.
The People's Party, Spain's conservative opposition tried to block the plans, saying it would reward illegal migrant and encourage more to enter Spain.
Santiago Abascal, the President of Vox, Spain's right-wing political party, called Mr Sánchez a "traitor" following the influx of people on Ceuta's coastline.
Writing on X, he said: "Sánchez is a traitor, a corrupt man, and an indecent person.
"He acts as the enemy of the Spanish people.
"The national emergency can only be resolved by ousting him and putting him in the dock."
Speaking to GB News, political strategist Rodrigo Ballester warned the Spanish policy was a “time bomb” for Europe.
Mr Ballester claimed Madrid had dramatically underestimated the impact of its migrant regularisation scheme, warning family reunification rules could triple the number ultimately settling in the country.
“The first figures released show it's actually triple what was initially foreseen,” he said.