The National Court is preparing to receive a flood of appeals against the denials of asylum requested by immigrants who arrived in Ceuta during the invasion that occurred on July 30 and 31. According to legal sources informing EL MUNDO, the court is already working on a plan to avoid the collapse of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber, in charge of reviewing the decisions adopted by the Ministry of the Interior on asylum matters.
As reported by this media, the National Police estimates that asylum requests may amount to approximately 6,000. At the moment, the Interministerial Asylum and Refuge Commission (CIAR) has processed almost 1,000 asylum request files, according to government sources.
For its part, the Ministry of Justice has offered to strengthen the National Court as soon as possible to avoid a bottleneck in the processing of expulsion files, which would have the direct consequence of a delay in the repatriation of immigrants who entered Ceuta illegally.
The different sources consulted explain that the Court plans to imminently send to the General Council of the Judiciary a special action plan to strengthen the Contentious-Administrative Chamber. Subsequently, it will be the governing body of the judges that will have to submit a proposal to the Ministry headed by Félix Bolaños. The idea is that the processing is expedited and the reinforcements arrive as soon as possible, according to government sources.
Contacts on this issue have intensified between Justice and the Court in recent weeks. Minister Bolaños and the Secretary of State for Justice, Manuel Olmedo, have personally conveyed to the president of the Court, Juan Manuel Fernández, their intention to act quickly to avoid this bottleneck of resources against asylum denials for immigrants.
In a letter, sent on September 16 by Olmedo to President Fernández, it was reiterated "the full willingness of the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes to collaborate with the National Court in the face of the foreseeable increase in workload that may arise in the management and processing of judicial cases linked to the events that occurred in Ceuta on July 30 and 31 of this year."
In the letter, known to this newspaper, it was emphasized that "in order to guarantee that the jurisdictional response can be provided with maximum efficiency and without delay, it is the Ministry's will to make available to the National Court the personal and material reinforcements that are necessary, as well as accelerate the digitalization and technological modernization actions that are already underway."
The Ministry of Justice stressed that its priority was "to anticipate the needs that may arise and ensure that judicial bodies and common services have the appropriate means to face this eventual increase in activity in the best possible conditions."
At the moment, there are no definitive figures on the number of appeals that will reach the Court since currently the Ministry of Fernando Grande-Marlaska continues to process asylum requests and reject the majority of those presented. These administrative decisions can be appealed before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court.
For his part, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory and coordinator of the Single Command, Ángel Víctor Torres, last Thursday estimated 7,533 immigrants who have returned from Ceuta to Morocco since the beginning of August. Likewise, it indicated that there are 2,383 unaccompanied foreign minors affiliated in Ceuta. In these cases, for the Executive the priority is family reunification.
