Spain will allow 500 migrant minors from Ceuta to move to the mainland
The Spanish government will allow 500 migrant minors from Ceuta—a Spanish enclave on the North African coast—to move to the mainland. This marks a shift from Madrid’s previous stance, under which people who had entered Ceuta or Melilla illegally were to be returned to Morocco, according to The Guardian.
On July 30, according to the publication’s estimates, approximately 70,000 migrants crossed the border into Ceuta. Most of them subsequently returned to Morocco. At the same time, Spanish law requires the state to care for unaccompanied minors until they reach the age of 18.
On August 13, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska stated that anyone who enters Ceuta or Melilla illegally will be returned, as Spain and Morocco are cooperating on this issue. He also said that such individuals would not be allowed onto the Iberian Peninsula and would not remain in the enclaves indefinitely.
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The relocation of children to the mainland has become a politically sensitive issue: several regions, where the conservative People’s Party governs in coalition with the far-right Vox party, are unwilling or opposed to accepting the quota of minors assigned to them. The Ministry of Youth, together with the Ceuta government, is preparing an emergency plan under which the most vulnerable children—especially girls—will be taken into the care of nongovernmental organizations and child protection services without transferring guardianship authority to regional governments.
State Secretary for Children’s Affairs Rubén Pérez Correa has been in Ceuta since Sunday. According to the publication, hundreds of children there are living on the streets and surviving thanks to the help of local residents.
Shortly before the plan was announced, the European Commission stated that, under EU law, all migrants who remain in Ceuta irregularly should be returned to Morocco, including unaccompanied minors. At the same time, the new European Pact on Migration has not yet been implemented into Spanish law, so national regulations regarding unaccompanied minors remain in effect in Spain.
