CATALAN separatist party Junts has demanded that the region be excluded from receiving migrant minors who arrived in Ceuta on July 30.
Catalunya ‘cannot be more tense’, noting that ‘the system is under too much pressure’, spokesperson Miriam Nogueras said.
She added that the affluent region of Spain’s north east has always welcomed migrants, but that ‘Catalonia should not have to cover for the negligence of Spain’.
READ MORE: Inside Ceuta: thousands of migrant children on the pavement – and thousands more in the hills
She also called the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, ‘irresponsible’ for ‘prioritising the interests of Pedro Sanchez over those in Catalunya’.
“Mr. Illa has been governing for two years, and we have public services more strained than ever,” Nogueras said in a meeting on Monday.
The demand comes as Ceuta struggles to accommodate more than 1,100 unaccompanied migrant children following a major influx of migrants from Morocco last week.
The city’s existing facilities have been overwhelmed. Ceuta’s leader Juan Jesus Vivas has called on other Spanish regions to take in some of the minors.
Junts are not alone in opposing the redistribution. Parties such as Vox and PP have also come out against it, with Vox having taken the hardest stance as it refused to participate in the government’s meeting regarding the redistribution.
PSOE has emphasised the importance of regions cooperating. The party prioritises family reunification with the minors’ families in their homeland rather than moving all children to the mainland
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