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Date Published: 27/09/2023

Cartagena immigration holding centre will finally be moved

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It is hoped that the new permanent immigration detention centre will provide better housing conditions for displaced migrants

Cartagena immigration holding centre will finally be moved

The Port Authority of Cartagena (APC) will begin work this coming Monday to adapt the land in La Algameca in order to start building the long overdue immigrant holding centre.

Up until now, migrants found entering the Region of Murcia by irregular means have been transferred to the Centre for the Temporary Assistance of Foreigners (CATE), which is currently located next to the beach of El Espalmador near the port.

That centre was always intended to be a short-term solution until the Cartagena authorities could set up more permanent facilities for processing and assisting migrants who come to Murcian shores.

In the past, the CATE centre has been accused of allowing people to be housed in squalid conditions, with rubbish strewn around and rats causing problems for residents.

With the creation of the new centre, Cartagena Mayor Noelia Arroyo stated, “We are at the end of a mistake that should never have been made.”

Work on the new centre, which will be situated on a disused area belonging to the Navy that was previously used for fuel storage, will begin with the installation of a fence and the flattening of the land.

Mayor Arroyo was speaking after a meeting held with the Mayor of Almería, María del Mar Vázquez, and the two agreed to share strategies to develop the integration of their ports with the urban centre.

As Mayor Vázquez explained, Almería is now in the process of defining the improvements which will lead to greater integration of the city with the port in the future.

“Cartagena is an example of success,” she said. “That is why we have come to get to know it and to see what is being done well in order to take the formulas which could be good for Almería.”

Almería as a city and a province also has a lot of migrants living in an irregular situation, and the two localities hope to be able to share expertise on how to provide these people with a dignified and humane treatment.

Both mayors also highlighted qualities such as sharing similar characteristics in terms of population numbers, Mediterranean gastronomy and cultural richness.

Image: SUP Región de Murcia