Migranten vor Ort: Spanien bittet Frontex um Hilfe bei Migrationskrise in Ceuta

The Spanish government has requested assistance from the EU border control agency Frontex to help manage the ongoing migration crisis in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa. This request came from the country's Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to Frontex's Director-General for Migration and Internal Affairs, Beate Gminder. Gminder had already offered this aid on August 21st.

Ceuta has been under significant pressure following a mass influx of thousands of migrants into the enclave at the end of July. The government is unable to deport these migrants quickly due to legal constraints but also does not want to bring them to the mainland, as some locals are starting to rebel against their presence. As of July 30th and 31st, around 72,000 migrants from Morocco were reported to have swum or climbed over border fences into Ceuta, with most of them returning within hours.

However, Grande-Marlaska informed Parliament on Friday that about 5,000 migrants were still present in the area, which is smaller than Frankfurt Airport.

Roughly 85,000 locals have begun demonstrating increasingly violently against the migrants. The government has ruled out a collective return of the migrants to Morocco without individual case assessments, as this would be prohibited by international law and previous Spanish court rulings. Even bringing the migrants to Spain for a short period, which Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area, is also excluded.

This could lead to protests from conservative governed autonomous regions and renewed criticism from EU countries against Spain. Moreover, it could violate Schengen rules and result in Spain's exclusion from the club of countries without checks at their internal borders.

Only around 500 particularly vulnerable unaccompanied minors are expected to be brought to the mainland. Frontex officials have been asked to assist in registering and initially screening the migrants to expedite this process. The government also believes that support from the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA) in conducting interviews and providing interpreters for the screening procedure could be extremely helpful.

The measures, which could be carried out remotely due to limited space in Ceuta, will be undertaken with Frontex's assistance.