Vivas again demands the return of all migrants and warns: "We are not going to allow Ceuta to become a mega CETI"

The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, has demanded this Monday the return to Morocco of all people who entered the city irregularly at the end of July. Before the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and the president of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, he insisted that this is the way to recover normality and warned that Ceuta cannot sustain the reception of thousands of people indefinitely.

"We are not going to allow Ceuta to become a mega CETI," he stated. Vivas raised the risk that the hosted population could reach 15% of the city's inhabitants, a hypothesis about the future of Ceuta, not a figure of places enabled at this moment. "It would be the death of our city," he added during an appearance marked by his criticism of the central government's response.

The Ceuta president accused the Executive of ignoring calls for help prior to the massive entry on July 30 and 31. He also reproached it for, more than seven weeks later, still not offering a precise figure of the people remaining in Ceuta, a horizon to resolve the situation, and a date for the border reinforcement works.

Vivas and Minister Sira Rego disagree on minors

The future of minors has concentrated a large part of the political confrontation. The Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, stated this Monday that the majority want to stay in Spain and that "they will stay". Vivas reproached her for a "change of position" and assured that, at the beginning of the crisis, both governments agreed to prioritize family reunification.

"We have not changed our criteria," insisted the Ceuta president. His proposal is to first locate the families and then, when that reunion is not possible, study the reception by a guardian or an appropriate institution. Vivas maintains that Morocco has expressed its willingness to receive the minors and asks it to facilitate the reports on their family circumstances so that the files can be processed. He has also proposed involving the European Commission in finding a solution.

Morocco's disposition does not by itself resolve the future of each child. The Immigration Law requires studying their family situation, listening to them when they have sufficient judgment, and deciding if the return responds to their best interest. Vivas himself had warned on July 29, before the massive entry, of the legal difficulties in returning minors and asylum seekers. Now he demands that procedures be accelerated, although each case must be resolved with its own guarantees.

A crisis that Vivas wants to take to Europe

Feijóo and Weber have supported the request for returns during their visit to Ceuta. The president of the European PP has demanded that minors be able to reunite with their families when possible and has asked Morocco to fulfill its commitments. Vivas has thanked them for their support and has defended that the response to the crisis must involve community institutions due to Ceuta's condition as an external border of the European Union.

The appearance coincided with the visit to the city of the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Government sources have reproached Vivas for declining to meet with him due to agenda reasons while maintaining the meeting with Feijóo and Weber. The Ceuta president also condemned the aggression suffered on Sunday in the port by local deputy Julia Ferreras and her companions. "We condemn violence, wherever it comes from," he declared.