The Spanish authorities have stated that they will seek to deport those who have entered the country illegally as soon as possible, despite a court ruling that imposed certain restrictions on the special ‘border deviation’ rules allowing for immediate deportation from the enclave.
The Spanish authorities have stated that they will seek to deport those who have entered the country illegally as soon as possible, despite a court ruling imposing certain restrictions on the special rules permitting immediate deportation from the enclave.
The Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, quoted in the media, said on Friday that one of the factors contributing to this surge could have been the Spanish Supreme Court’s ruling, approved earlier this month, that migrants intercepted at sea whilst attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla, cannot be immediately returned under special rules.
According to Torres, the Spanish government responded immediately to the influx of migrants and will ultimately return them, whilst respecting the court’s rulings and the migrants’ rights.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was due to visit Ceuta on Friday alongside Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasco.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, are the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. These two cities, each with a population of around 85,000, periodically face a sharp rise in attempts by migrants to cross the border in their bid to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday’s influx was virtually unprecedented.