Spain has asked the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, to assist in processing about 5,000 migrants who remain in Ceuta after crossing from Morocco last month.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska made the request on Friday, asking for an additional 10 Frontex officers to help speed up the screening process.
Spanish authorities must identify the migrants and determine whether they qualify for international protection. Those who do not qualify could face procedures to return them to their countries of origin.
Officials estimate that between 5,000 and 8,000 migrants, including unaccompanied children, remain in Ceuta. They are among the roughly 72,000 people who crossed the border from Morocco on July 30.
The mass crossing resulted in the deaths of at least 82 people on the Spanish side of the border and 14 on the Moroccan side, according to official figures. Human rights organisations have reported higher death tolls.
Spain's request comes as tensions rise in Ceuta, where residents have staged protests demanding that the migrants leave. Temporary migrant camps, including tents on Trampolin Beach, have been attacked and set on fire.
On Thursday, 12 migrants were arrested after reportedly throwing stones at an army vehicle, injuring one soldier and four migrants. Eleven of those arrested were subsequently expelled from Ceuta, according to Spanish newspaper El País.
Madrid has also requested emergency funding from the EU to help manage the migrant crisis.
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