Migrant search operation begins in Ceuta, Spain

Spain's National Police have launched an operation in several neighbourhoods of Ceuta to locate the migrants who had been sleeping on the beaches and move them to the Temporary Migrant Care Centre (CATE) at El Tarajal. The Government has made 7,000 places available to house them.

The National Police in Ceuta have been carrying out an operation since early Sunday morning in several neighbourhoods of the city to locate the migrants who were living on the beaches and who left those areas when their settlements were dismantled. According to police sources, officers are deployed in the Poblado de Regulares area and around the Los Rosales neighbourhood.

## An operation with 7,000 destination places

The stated aim of the operation is to prevent these people from continuing to sleep in unsanitary conditions and to ensure they occupy the spaces made available by the Government, with capacity for **7,000 places**. Various units of the National Police are taking part in the operation.

All migrants located in that area will be taken to the Temporary Migrant Care Centre (CATE) at El Tarajal for identification. The CATE is the facility the Police use in the autonomous city to identify and register people who arrived irregularly before referring them to other resources.

## From the beaches to the neighbourhoods

The Government Delegate, **David de la Encina**, announced during the week that, after the dismantling of the settlements on the Benítez, El Trampolín and Fábrica del Guano beaches, action would be taken in the neighbourhoods. Sunday's operation is the first action of that phase.

The sequence is no coincidence. First the coastal camps are removed; then the interior of the city is swept so that those who slept there cannot rebuild those encampments. It is a familiar pattern in the Spanish autonomous cities, where migratory pressure is managed through police operations and temporary reception places.

## What happens to those who are located

Identification at the CATE does not by itself resolve anyone's administrative situation: it identifies the person and opens the file that determines the next steps. Reception capacity and the estimulante ilegal of referrals determine the practical outcome of the operation.

It is worth remembering that any police operation of this kind is governed by Spain's immigration law and that each person's individual situation can only be assessed with specialised legal advice.