HIBAPRESS
The Spanish government announced on Sunday that 5,321 individuals who remained in the occupied city of Ceuta following the mass influx witnessed in the city last July have departed for Morocco within one month. This comes as Spanish authorities continue to deal with the repercussions of the crisis and the pressures associated with managing the migrant file.
Ángel Víctor Torres, the Minister of Territorial Policy responsible for coordinating the government's response to the crisis, stated that the individuals in question left "voluntarily for Morocco" since August 10th. He clarified that 90 people have withdrawn applications they had previously submitted for international protection, while around a thousand people are currently being registered to complete the procedures related to their return.
The Spanish government faces criticism for the slow processing of the cases of migrants who remained in the city for weeks, after authorities were forced to verify their identities and study their files to determine their eligibility for asylum. The government also emphasizes that unaccompanied minors cannot be deported immediately, which further complicates the management of the file.
In a related context, the Spanish Ministry of Migration announced the creation of 864 additional places in temporary migrant reception centers, raising the total capacity to approximately 4,300 places, with a plan to increase it to 6,000 places in the coming period, in an effort to cope with the growing pressure on reception facilities.
