Spain Moves to Reform Asylum Laws Amid Ceuta Crisis

The Spanish government is expected to present a draft bill reforming the country’s immigration and asylum laws to bring them into line with the EU’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum, according to Euronews.

The move comes amid an ongoing crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where around 5,000 migrants, including an estimated 2,000 minors, remain after 80,000 people crossed illegally from Morocco in a single day in July. The vast majority of those who crossed have since returned to Morocco.

The legislation will introduce the EU’s screening procedure for migrants and will also apply to the Canary Islands, which have seen an increase in migrant arrivals by boat.

Madrid has meanwhile declared the Ceuta crisis a matter of interest to national security and called for a single command to manage the response. The move, which came almost a month after the crisis began, has drawn criticism from the opposition. An attempt to transfer minors to mainland Spain through an emergency decree has stalled amid disagreements between the government, opposition parties and Ceuta’s regional authorities.

The European Commission has said Spain must return migrants who have no legal grounds to remain in EU territory while ensuring that minors’ rights are protected. Madrid has yet to provide a comprehensive explanation for the mass influx, but has pointed to human traffickers and a social media campaign that allegedly encouraged migrants to believe they could enter Ceuta and automatically claim asylum. Morocco has said Spain’s mass regularization of migrants earlier this year sent contradictory signals.

(max)