From the end of next week, the Government is going to set up military facilities to be used as transitory camps to receive migrants transferred to the Peninsula from the Canary Islands, including the Naval Hospital in Cartagena.
This was announced on Monday by the acting Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, in statements to the media during his visit to the Madrid Reception, Care and Referral Centre (CREADE), located in Pozuelo de Alarcón.
«We have approximately 5,000 people in hotels and we think we can move them to these camps, which are more suitable,» Escrivá said.
Specifically, the minister said that at the end of next week the government will open a transit camp in the General Arteaga Barracks in Carabanchel (Madrid), as well as a facility next to the old military hospital in Cartagena. It is hoped that the Cartagena Naval Hospital can be set up with a maximum capacity of 600 people and managed by Accem.
Subsequently, a week later, the Executive will open another transitory camp in the Madrid town of Alcalá de Henares in the Primo de Rivera Barracks.
«We are working with the Ministry of Defence to have these facilities and possibly some more available, which will allow us to reduce the number of people who at the moment we have had to place in hotels that are closed», said the head of Migrations.
Minister Escrivá plans to meet this Tuesday by videoconference to inform the mayors of the main Spanish municipalities, the FEMP and the autonomous communities of the operation to transfer migrants from the Canary Islands to the mainland.
The meeting has been called by the Ministry following criticism from local councils and communities, especially the Popular Party, regarding the «lack of transparency and information» in the transfer of migrants.