Spanish Prime Minister blames human trafficking for crisis in Ceuta

According to information from the newspaper El País, the socialist president said in a statement in Ceuta that there was a “violation of the territorial integrity of Spain” and an “opportunistic” interpretation, by human trafficking networks, of a decision by the Spanish Supreme Court issued three weeks ago, which determined that those who swim in Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish enclave in North Africa, cannot be summarily returned.

The court ruled that immediate deportation can only be applied to those who attempt to enter “by surpassing established border containment elements, such as fences”.

In this sense, Sánchez said that the installation of buoys on the breakwater that separates Ceuta from the Moroccan city of Castillejos is being studied, “to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court and, at least, create a containment barrier, a physical barrier in visual terms, so that, from an administrative point of view, repatriation at the border can be made easy.”

Accused of having implemented an open door policy in Spain, the prime minister said he did not rule out, “from a legislative point of view, modifying some aspects of the laws to facilitate repatriation in the most effective way possible”. “constant, fluid and very reasonable, unlike what happened in 2021”, when around 10 thousand immigrants entered Ceuta illegally. who arrived from Morocco, breaking through fences in Ceuta to enter Spanish territory.

Official data showed that around 60 thousand people entered the Spanish enclave by sea and land in 24 hours, equivalent to 70% of the territory’s population, and the location of at least 19 bodies in the water.