In just six weeks this summer, the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta has seen 952 asylum applications, nearly double that received in the first six months of this year, where there were 517 in total.
The Spanish government released the statistics following a request from the populist party VOX, after there had been a surge of migrants into Ceuta this year.
In a press release, VOX stated that the government had noted that between January 1st and June 15th, 517 asylum requests had been received in Ceuta. But as of July 31st, the number rose by 952 to 1,469, with 1,153 being admitted for processing.
The government also revealed that just 316 migrants have had their asylum claims rejected so far, but the Socialist-led administration has been unwilling to give the reasons for the rejections.
Earlier this week, the government also told VOX National Deputy for Ceuta Teresa López that it does not register the number of migrants who attempt to cross into Ceuta or Spain’s other North African enclave Melilla.
“The huge number of immigrants who, day after day, illegally disembark on our shores implies that, as a matter of urgency, we adopt any measure that is necessary to try to alleviate the existing misgovernment and the evident institutional abandonment from which both our State Security Forces and bodies, as well as our citizens, are suffering,” VOX said in a statement.
In May, an estimated 8,000 migrants stormed the border of Ceuta in the span of just a few days. However, the Spanish government deported at least 6,600 of the migrants back to Morocco a short time later.
The mass migration incident was seen as being linked to strained diplomatic ties between Spain and Morocco after Spain provided medical treatment to the leader of a Western Sahara independence movement.
Following the wave of migrants, VOX leader Santiago Abascal visited Ceuta, sparking violence and rioting that left seven police injured. Spanish media noted that some of those involved in the riots had shouted “Allahu Akbar”, and Abascal accused illegal immigrants of participating in the violence.
“They allowed several hundred, many Moroccans, to gather against us for three hours, including those who illegally passed to Ceuta last week,” Abascal said.
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