The Government will enable four new humanitarian care spaces in Ceuta with a joint capacity to accommodate about 1,500 people. Three of the locations are on state-owned land and the fourth will be provided by the Government of the autonomous city.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, presented the measure after meeting with the Ceuta president, Juan Jesús Vivas, and participating remotely in a new coordination meeting chaired by Pedro Sánchez.
The facilities will be installed in the parking lot of Loma Colmenar, provided by the Autonomous City of Ceuta; the equestrian facilities, the old football field of the Cavalry barracks, and the so-called Guano space.
As Saiz explained, these are "temporary and extraordinary" devices, designed to provide accommodation and humanitarian care while the administrative situation of the people who continue in the city is resolved.
The minister defended the collaboration between the central Government and the Ceuta Administration as the "fundamental element to recover normality as soon as possible." "Ceuta is an example of coexistence and has shown that diversity is one of its greatest strengths: a city that knows how to coexist and demonstrates civic commitment," Saiz declared.
Relieve the care pressure in Ceuta
The announcement aims to relieve the pressure on reception resources and prevent migrants and applicants for international protection from continuing to sleep on beaches, sports facilities, improvised settlements, or spaces that do not meet the necessary conditions.
The choice of locations had caused discrepancies between the administrations. Before the agreement announced this Monday, other spaces had been studied or discarded, including the old Flour Factory, some warehouses located in the industrial estate near Tarajal, and land linked to the port or military facilities.
The Ceuta Government had particularly rejected the use of the Flour Factory due to its central location and the opposition expressed by neighbors. Vivas, however, has assured that his Executive is willing to collaborate with other locations as long as the devices are provisional.
Insufficient places?
The 1,500 places announced do not solve the entirety of the crisis by themselves. The exact number of people remaining in Ceuta continues to be a matter of disagreement: while the Government initially stated that the majority of those who entered had returned to Morocco, Vivas estimates that between 8,000 and 10,000 migrants still remain in the city.
Saiz has also rejected the hate speeches related to the crisis and has claimed the response offered by public services, social organizations, and the citizens of Ceuta.
The PP demands the immediate return of adults and minors to Morocco
The announcement of the new spaces coincides with the presentation by the PP of a non-legislative proposal in Congress with eleven measures to "recover normality in Ceuta". One of its central points is the "immediate return of all those who entered the city irregularly, whether minors or adults." In the case of minors, the party proposes their return "to their families or to the social services of Morocco," a country that, according to Cuca Gamarra, claims to be willing to receive them.
"There is no other way," defended the popular leader, who considers it necessary to prevent new people from having the expectation of being able to enter irregularly into Spain and remain in national territory.
The PP plan also demands:
- Activate the National Security Law and establish a single state command.
- Formally request the deployment of Frontex.
- Reinforce the presence of the Security Forces and, when necessary, the Army.
- Incorporate more Immigration officials and specialists in the fight against mafias.
- Demand that Morocco comply with bilateral agreements on border control and readmission.
- Reinforce the border legally and structurally.
- Reform the Immigration Law to facilitate the return of those who access Ceuta by swimming.
- Put an end to the extraordinary regularizations promoted by the Government.
In any case, a non-legislative proposal constitutes a political initiative. Even if approved by Congress, it does not automatically modify legislation nor legally obligate the Government to implement the proposed measures.
What returns the law allows and what happens with minors
The irregular entry into Spain may lead to a return procedure, but the legislation does not allow for collective and indiscriminate expulsions without studying the circumstances of each person.
In the case of adults who have requested international protection, the return cannot be executed while the admission or resolution of their request is being processed. The Asylum Law and European regulations also require respect for the principle of non-refoulement when there are well-founded reasons to believe that the person may suffer persecution, torture, or serious harm in the country to which they would be sent.
Therefore, the immediate return demanded by the PP could apply to certain adults who have not requested asylum or whose request has been rejected or denied, but it would require processing the corresponding procedures and respecting legal guarantees.
The situation of minors is even more restrictive. The Immigration Law allows for their repatriation to reunite them with their family or to place them at the disposal of the protection services of their country, but it does not authorize an automatic return merely for having entered irregularly.
Before agreeing to repatriation, an individual file must be processed that includes:
- The identification of the minor and, when there are doubts, the determination of their age.
- The location and verification of the situation of their family.
- The hearing of the minor themselves.
- The intervention of the Prosecutor's Office and protection services.
- The evaluation of the conditions in which they would be received in Morocco.
- The verification that the return is in their best interest.
The decisive criterion is not only that Morocco expresses its willingness to receive them. The Spanish Administration must individually verify that the minor can safely reunite with their family or remain under the effective guardianship of appropriate protection services.
If those guarantees are not accredited, repatriation cannot be executed. It would also not be legal to collectively transfer minors to Morocco without individual resolution, hearing, legal assistance, and the possibility of appeal.
Vivas gives the Government 30 days before going to the Judiciary
Hours before meeting with Elma Saiz, the Ceuta president, Juan Jesús Vivas, had significantly raised the tone against the central Government. He has denounced an "almost absolute passivity" and a "lack of adequate response" after the massive entry recorded at the end of July.
Vivas argues that it is still not known exactly how many people remain in the city, how many have been identified, or how many return files have been initiated. He also demands measures to reinforce the border, recover security, and economically and emotionally reactivate Ceuta.
The Ceuta president has granted the Executive a period of 30 days for the situation to change. Otherwise, he has announced that he will go to the Judiciary and the rest of the State institutions. "My intention is to convey the situation to the president of the Supreme Court and the president of the Constitutional Court if they want to receive me. The Judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law. Ceuta is living in a state of exception," he has stated.
Vivas has not specified for now what legal action he would present, against what action or omission of the Government, nor before which jurisdictional body. A meeting with the presidents of the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court does not, in itself, equate to the presentation of a resource.
The Ceuta president has assured that he will also seek the support of the General Courts, the autonomous communities, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, and European institutions. "The people of Ceuta are not going to give up. The Government is a very important part of the State, but it is not the whole State," he has warned.
Cuca Gamarra qualifies the situation as a "sovereignty crisis"
For her part, this morning, the vice-secretary of Institutional Regeneration of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, has stated that what happened in Ceuta transcends the migratory sphere. "It is not a migratory crisis, it is a sovereignty crisis, a crisis of territorial integrity," she declared during the presentation of the eleven-measure plan registered by the PP in Congress.
Gamarra has accused the Executive of "negligence, irresponsibility, and absolute passivity" and has reproached that, more than two weeks after the massive entry, the inhabitants of Ceuta still cannot normally exercise their rights and freedoms.
The popular leader has also criticized the absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, in the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, after Fernando Grande-Marlaska also did not attend the previous week to the appearance requested by the Upper House.
Gamarra has requested the intervention of the European Union, the formal deployment of Frontex, and the application of the National Security Law. In his opinion, the crisis must remain under a single command of the State and be accompanied by police, military, administrative, and judicial reinforcements.