The Spanish government considers enabling sports centers to host migrants and Ceuta rejects it

MadridThe Spanish government and the government of Ceuta continue to search for spaces to temporarily house the migrants who entered the autonomous city on July 30 and 31 and who continue to live on the streets. After approving the declaration of "exceptional situation" in Ceuta due to the migratory crisis and the designation of a single command led by the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, Pedro Sánchez's executive has approved the habilitation of all sports centers in Ceuta as temporary reception spaces. Also other facilities and organizations that depend on the autonomous city, in addition to facilities owned by up to 11 different ministries, as detailed in the decree published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which also approves the exceptional situation.

The details of these spaces —which will be added to the already habilitated locations where about 2,000 migrants have been housed— have been made public before this Wednesday afternoon's meeting between the Minister of Territorial Policy and the President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP). It will be the first meeting within the framework of the single command. In any case, Vivas has already anticipated that his government will reject the use of the sports centers. "No one has asked me anything," criticized the President of Ceuta, who lamented that it would mean adding more "sacrifices" to the Ceuta population.

The government of Ceuta assures that it sent a list with different locations to house people. "The area near [the border] of El Tarajal and other areas far from the residential nucleus. These camps must be in areas where they do not affect the neighbors," Vivas stated. "This is what I will convey to the minister [in the meeting]," he added.

The decree contemplates that the spaces will be designated "by consensus" and that the list of Spanish government facilities is "modifiable and flexible," as the local government's criteria will be taken into account.

From the government of Ceuta, it is reiterated that the "priority" must be the return of people. "Let them all return," stated Vivas. "When legal areas are irresolvable [referring to the prohibition of the express return of people, especially minors], means must be put in place to solve the problem. This is a matter of means. More immigration officials, police officers, interpreters, more judges, prosecutors, more of everything is needed to speed up the procedures," he said. In this regard, the government of Ceuta will formally request the Spanish government to assume the competencies over unaccompanied minor migrants, which are currently the responsibility of the autonomous and, in this case, local administration. "Ceuta can no longer cope," he concluded.

Contradictory figures

Meanwhile, the dance of figures continues. For the moment, the Spanish government has not provided any official figures on the number of migrants who remain in the city since they arrived almost a month ago. Nor how many of them live on the streets. In addition, returns to Morocco continue to be few and far between. Regarding unaccompanied minors, after the Minister of Economy Carlos Cuerpo announced that around 2,900 minors had already been registered with the Spanish authorities, the Minister of Territorial Policy has reduced the affiliates to 1,410. "There are still minors on the street," said Víctor Torres, who acknowledged that they "do not have" a definitive number of minors.

According to sources from the Ministry of the Interior this Wednesday, "the National Police has purged the computer records because they have detected that some procedures carried out on the same child appeared reflected as a new file".