Spain to provide further 2,000 places for migrant reception in Ceuta

Despite this, Minister for Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres has announced that the government is working to create 2,000 new reception places. These would be in addition to the 1,800 that it made available last week.

Torres announced early on Wednesday that the government hopes to open new accommodation facilities in Ceuta to accommodate a further 2,000 migrants who are still living on the streets.

Although last week saw the clearance of the Trampolín beach to relocate the people who had been living there for 20 days, just a few hours later hundreds of migrants re-occupied the site, as the authorities had not yet made sufficient accommodation available to look after them and allow them to sleep under a roof while processing their case.

In other words, in addition to the two new centres that the government has already set up to register migrants, Torres hopes to announce more places in order to continue identifying individuals and "move on to the next stages".

"We need to ascertain whether they are entitled to asylum. If not, we must initiate their return proceedings and also begin the necessary arrangements for minors," he explained.

However, the number of available places seems to never be enough to accommodate the people still living on the streets, beaches and hills of Ceuta. Torres stated that he did not know "the exact number of migrants" still in Ceuta, as a large number have not been registered. He did, however, state that, as of this Wednesday, they had counted some 1,410 minors.

This latest figure forms part of the conflicting narrative of various members of the government. A week ago, sources at the Interior Ministry put the number of registered foreign minors at just over 2,100. On Monday, Minister for the Economy Carlos Cuerpo raised the figure to 2,900. Now, Torres has once again reduced the figure to 1,410.

The Ministry for Children and Youth acknowledges that it is still impossible to obtain an accurate picture of the migrant children, whether accompanied or unaccompanied, who crossed the border and remain in the city, as they have not yet found them all. Many are wandering the streets or hiding in the countryside, as various social organisations have warned, and the necessary interviews have not taken place.

On Tuesday, the government declared a situation of national security interest in Ceuta, which allowed for the establishment of a single command structure. Various facilities run by the regional government are set to begin operating as reception centres, including five sports centres (Santa Amelia, La Libertad, Antonio Campoamor and Guillermo Molina and Díaz Flor).

The decision to make these regional facilities available for the care of migrants has sparked considerable controversy. In fact, the city's mayor has announced that he will take legal action to overturn the decision, as he believes it could cause even more problems for the local community, which has already grown weary of this crisis after almost a month.

Before taking the matter to court, during his meeting with Torres on Wednesday afternoon, president of the regional government of Ceuta Juan Jesús Vivas will request that these sports centres be removed from the list and that the facilities the local authorities offer be included instead to not "place any further strain on the local community".

Hundreds of people are already receiving care at the Loma Colmenar centre and just as many are waiting outside for places to become available. With Hospital Militar and seven further plots of land belonging to the central government, the total number of temporary and permanent shelters is 14.

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