The Ministry of the Interior has decided to reinforce the device that conducts the triage of migrant individuals located in Ceuta, launching new lines of police work at the Temporary Reception Center for Foreigners (CATE) provisional, with the aim of "expediting" the procedures for processing asylum applications or returns.
According to the department's statement, the triage is "mandatory and prior" to any administrative procedure, whether it is expulsion, return, international protection, protection of minors, or assistance to trafficking victims.
Interior has detailed that the National Police, which has already been carrying out identification and recording tasks of migrants both at the Superior Headquarters of Ceuta and at the border post, has since this Thursday eight new lines of work at the provisional CATE that is being set up in some warehouses of the El Tarajal Industrial Park.
In these eight lines, agents from the Immigration and Borders units, Scientific Police, and Citizen Security are involved, equipped with computer equipment, printers, ADSL network points, and "all the technical means" necessary to carry out the identification and registration tasks of migrant individuals.
CATE operational on September 4
Interior expects that the CATE will be fully operational on the next September 4. At that time, the current eight lines will be expanded to 14, which will be added to the four already existing at the Superior Police Headquarters and the six that operate at the border crossing.
At the same time, this Thursday a team made up of eleven members from the General Directorate of International Protection of the ministry has arrived in Ceuta, which will reinforce the officials who, along with the National Police, are responsible for formalizing and processing the initial phases of asylum application files.
This team will participate in interviews with those requesting international protection, with special attention to minors in situations of abandonment, women and girls, as well as individuals who may find themselves in vulnerable situations.
The interviews will be conducted in person, in morning and afternoon shifts, and the same team will process the files of cases interviewed in previous sessions. Additionally, the realization of interviews by videoconference is contemplated simultaneously with the in-person ones, coordinating with the National Police to have personnel support at the headquarters of the general directorate in Madrid.
Medical recognition and biometric registration
Interior has reiterated that the triage is "mandatory and prior to any administrative procedure, whether expulsion, return, international protection, protection of minors or victims of trafficking."
This triage includes a medical examination carried out by the Red Cross; a vulnerability assessment to detect minors, pregnant women, elderly people, people with disabilities or mental disorders, conducted by the medical services of the National Police; the identification and collection of biometric data, with the registration of photographs, ten-finger fingerprints, and document scanning; and the incorporation of all information into a police database.
The CATE that is being established in the El Tarajal Industrial Park has 856 square meters of usable space designated for police office use, which will also include a multipurpose dining room and an area reserved for the accommodation of families.
Once its conditioning is completed on September 4, the complex will also have a building of 1,179 square meters for residential use, with a capacity for 400 places, equipped with toilets and showers for the exclusive use of migrants, as Interior has specified.