Spanish authorities asked the European Union for help checking documents and screening about 5,000 foreigners who arrived in Ceuta during mass migration waves over the past month. Spain's Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, sent a request to Beate Gminder, the director-general for migration and home affairs of the European Commission, for the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, to provide support to local authorities.
According to the Reuters agency, Grande-Marlaska wants 10 Frontex officers to speed up the processing of migrants' entry into the Spanish enclave. Many of these migrants are currently accommodated in refugee camps.
Spain has faced difficulties in quickly identifying which migrants in Ceuta are entitled to international protection, meaning humanitarian asylum, and which should be deported back to their countries of origin.
Madrid also made a request on Tuesday (25) to the EU to obtain emergency funds to deal with the migration situation in the Spanish enclave.
