The French interior minister said he had issued orders to “immediately step up controls at the Spanish border.”

Far-right politicians across the continent were quick to call for broader immigration restrictions.

“Borders must now be closed and refusals rigorously enforced. 2015 must not repeat itself!” Alice Weidel, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party, wrote on social media.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader in France who polls show is a front-runner in the country’s presidential election next year, wrote on social media that she would “stop this craziness” if elected.

The White House, which has repeatedly accused Europe of having lax immigration policies, seized on the Spanish crisis. “President Trump has long warned Europe what would happen if they continue to implement far-left, globalist policies, including enabling mass migration,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, told Fox News in a statement.

The migrant themselves had more immediate concerns than global politics.

“You ask why everyone came — because there’s no work in Morocco,” said Ajoub el-Arrot, 24, a Moroccan man wearing a beat-up Gucci cap and who was standing among the thousands wandering on a beach in Ceuta Friday.

Soufiane ez-Znafry, 26, a sous-chef in the Moroccan port city of Tangier, said he and other migrants were famished and could not find any food in Ceuta. “We have not eaten in two days,” he said.

Reporting was contributed by Aida Alami, Jorge Mitssunaga, Samuel Granados, Elisabetta Povoledo, Patrick Kingsley, Jeanna Smialek, Michael D. Shear, Ségolène Le Stradic, Katie Rogers, Koba Ryckewaert and Monika Cvorak.