She actually congratulated Spain for its ‘efficient and effective’ management of the crisis, praising this response as evidence of a ‘solid’ European system. The EU is governed by a legal, political and welfare architecture that acts as an invitation to illegal migrants. Sánchez’s government has recently forced through an amnesty for illegal migrants – with as many as two million forecast to apply. Nevertheless, the Ceuta crisis has done great damage to the EU, especially to the Schengen system, its internal open-border area. In the wake of Ceuta, Schengen is under more strain than ever.