An Almeria mayor has offered to take in up to 20 migrant children from Ceuta.

Domingo Ramos, who leads the town of Lubrin for the PSOE, said the unaccompanied minors could be housed in an underused council-owned centre.

The facility already houses around 20 migrant minors, but Ramos says it has capacity for twice that number.

His offer counterbalances the view of the PP-Vox run Junta, which has said it is against taking in migrants because ‘it would create a pull effect’ and inspire more people to enter Spain illegally.

Ramos’s proposal would see another 15 to 20 young people transferred to the centre, although he stressed that any such decision would have to be authorised by the Junta.

The mayor has not yet formally submitted the proposal to the regional government.

‘Let’s support them with real measures’

Ramos said the idea emerged after he posted about the Ceuta situation on Facebook, arguing that expressions of solidarity should be backed up by concrete action.

‘It’s all very well demonstrating, but let’s support them with real measures,’ he told Europa Press.

The centre, located in El Pocico, belongs to Lubrin Town Hall and was originally used as an educational farm.

In 2018, the council decided to turn it into an emergency facility for migrant children, and at its busiest it accommodated between 50 and 60 youngsters.

It was subsequently converted into a social and employment integration centre and is now rented by the council to a private company responsible for its management.

The building has 20 rooms equipped with bunk beds and, according to Ramos, could accommodate 40 children with two sharing each room.

That has led the mayor to argue there is sufficient unused capacity to take some of the minors currently in Ceuta.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.