The Police locate 2,168 migrant minors in Ceuta since July 30

The National Police has located, identified and placed 2,168 minors at the disposal of the regional government in Ceuta since July 30, according to sources from the Ministry of the Interior.

The figure has increased by 270 minors compared to the last one released by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, five days ago after a meeting held with the Government Delegation of Ceuta, the National Police and the Civil Guard in which the priority of the affiliation of the minors was reported.

The minors have been identified among the people who remain in the city after the entry of between 70,000 and 80,000 migrants from Morocco during the last two days of July.

The autonomous city has opened facilities, including two schools, for the care of minors at the request of the Ministry of Youth and Children, given the overoccupancy of the existing spaces in the autonomous city. The ordinary reception capacity attributed to Ceuta is 29 migrants, a figure that was already exceeded before the massive entry at the end of July.

The minors now remain in Ceuta waiting for solutions to be articulated, either through their referral to other autonomous communities or, when the legal requirements are met, through repatriation to their countries of origin.

Among them there are also children and young people from countries like Chad or Sudan who are fleeing wars and humanitarian crises and may have the right to international protection. Save the Children has especially focused on the situation of women, girls and adolescents, who may also face forced marriages, sexual violence or trafficking.

Relocation to other communities

The central Government has called the autonomous communities next week to a sectoral conference to address the relocation of children and adolescents arriving in stressed areas such as Ceuta and to debate the transfer of 25 million euros from the Executive to the autonomous city to care for minors.

The regional governments of the PP oppose the proposed system, while Aragón, Extremadura and Castilla y León, where Vox manages Children's policies in their coalition governments, do not want to participate in the meeting.

The difficulties of repatriation

The other possibility, the return of minors to their countries of origin, requires an individualized procedure that determines that the return responds to the best interests of each minor. In practice, these requirements make repatriations infrequent.

The Supreme Court has already determined that the massive return to Morocco of minors who arrived during the 2021 migration crisis was illegal due to the "absolute non-observance" of the guarantees provided for in the immigration law, including the individual analysis of the circumstances of each young person.

These guarantees must be respected even if the agreement reached between Spain and Morocco in 2007 for the concerted return of minors exists. To proceed with family reunification, it is necessary, among other things, to know the wishes of the minor and to obtain a report from the authorities of their country of origin on the socioeconomic situation of their family to guarantee that they will be adequately cared for.