Spain has already returned 7,000 immigrants who entered Ceuta

Spain has already returned 7,000 of the approximately 8,000 people who irregularly entered the North African Spanish city of Ceuta from Morocco, mainly swimming.

As reported this Saturday by the Spanish Government Delegation in Ceuta, the number of returns to Morocco has been increasing in recent hours, after the agreement reached between the two countries for the return of the thousands of people who had entered the town.

Along with those who are forced to return, dozens of young people who arrived irregularly have appeared at the border and have chosen to voluntarily return to their country.

This massive arrival exacerbated the diplomatic crisis between the governments of both countries, caused by the entry into Spain of the Polisario leader, Brahim Ghali, to receive medical assistance in a hospital.

The health services of Ceuta treated 516 of these Moroccan immigrants, one of whom died today in the Clinical Hospital, after suffering a fall of ten meters. Two other people died while trying to reach the Spanish city.

Meanwhile, the police, accompanied by the Social Services of Ceuta, is speeding up the identification procedures of all the minors who entered illegally from Morocco on those days, around 800.

The Social Services are interviewing the children to find out if they really entered Ceuta to seek a better future or if they were deceived into thinking that they were arriving on an excursion or to watch a football match.

The process has already allowed the identification of about 440 minors and it is expected that in the next few hours it can be accelerated to also attend to the requests for help from the parents who claim them.

More than 4,400 calls have received the telephone number authorized by the Ceuta authorities from relatives who think their children are in this Spanish city.

BORDER PROTECTION IN MELILLA REINFORCED

In Melilla, the other Spanish city in North Africa, the Government has reinforced the security forces with 90 more agents to protect the border.

To the 20 previously displaced, there are 40 deployed today, as well as 50 more in the next few hours, the Interior Ministry reported.

On Thursday night, in addition, the deployment of the Armed Forces was activated to support the police in the surveillance of the border fence, which was reinforced on Friday when several dozen immigrants entered irregularly.

The Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived today in Melilla to meet with the high command of the police forces and continue to strengthen the coordination and deployment of surveillance and security personnel on the border perimeter with Morocco.

Last morning, some 600 Moroccans tried to enter this city irregularly in three attempts to jump the fence in various places, but were rejected by Spanish agents.