Attempts by authorities to clear Ceuta’s Trampolín beach and create a foothold for a return of the area to normality failed this week, as the remaining illegal migrants immediately re-established a tent city.
Less than 24 hours after the Spanish exclave city government attempted to clear the thousands of migrants from the encampment established on Trampolín, the local Ceuta Actualidad reported that the coastline was already covered in “kilos” of garbage.
“Not even a day. Not even a day has passed before Trampolín beach and its surroundings have become a dump again,” the local outlet reported.
The beach has been home to thousands of illegals who flooded across the border from Morocco last month in an apparently coordinated effort that saw around 80,000 migrants storm the border of Spain’s North African territory.
While Madrid and Brussels were quick to claim that all such illegals would be returned home, several thousand illegals remained within the city.
The encampment on Ceuta’s main beach has sparked concerns over the potential spread of infectious diseases, with multiple cases of tuberculosis being discovered among the illegals.
Despite this, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García attempted to claim this week that it was “xenophobic” to claim that the migrants had brought disease with them.
Some, including a doctor at the University Hospital of Ceuta, Guadalupe Sánchez, have claimed that the beach has been polluted with “excrement” and other waste from the migrant population.
According to El Mundo, the Ministry of Health has also ordered a shipment of vaccines to the city for diseases such as chickenpox, diphtheria, polio, and tetanus.
Minister Garcia has denied that the healthcare system in the small city is on the brink of collapse — as has been claimed by local healthcare officials — but has said that around 5,800 immigrants have received some form of healthcare from doctors in the exclave.
It is believed that upwards of 8,000 illegals are currently within the territory, including around two thousand unaccompanied minors.
The large influx of foreigners has also come with a staggering increase in sexual assaults. According to data from the General Council of the Judiciary, there were at least nine cases of sexual assault during the first 15 days after the migrant invasion, or more than 800 per cent above the average for this time of year.
The storming of the Ceuta border came shortly after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that illegal migrants who arrive by sea could not be sent back immediately.
With the Spanish exclave being surrounded by Morocco and the Mediterranean, this created an apparent loophole whereby illegals could simply wade out into the sea on the Moroccan side of the border, walk several feet, and then technically arrive in Spanish territory by water.
Meanwhile, critics have also accused the far-left government in Madrid of creating incentives for illegals by embarking upon a mass amnesty programme, which may see upwards of a million illegals granted legal status in Spain this year.