More than 3,000 migrants, including several hundred minors, are still living on the streets of Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, the government said Monday.
Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres gave the estimate in an interview with Spanish public broadcaster TVE on Monday.
Torres said transfers to accommodation facilities designated under a government decree would continue in the coming days, with another site to be opened if necessary.
“We hope that in just a few weeks everyone will be relocated and the return files will begin to be processed,” he said.
Between 150 and 200 migrants are voluntarily returning to Morocco each day, according to Torres, with 160 doing so over the past 24 hours.
He said only people entitled to international protection and minors who cannot be reunited with their families would remain in Spain, adding that most of the recent arrivals from Morocco were not expected to qualify for protection.
The government intends to transfer unaccompanied minors to mainland Spain to prevent overcrowding in Ceuta.
Torres also condemned an attack on Sunday on a Ceuta Assembly lawmaker whose car was pelted with stones, calling the incident “unacceptable.”
