The Socialist Spanish government’s Minister of Children has admitted that Madrid is planning on allowing the majority of alleged unaccompanied minors in Ceuta relocate to mainland Spain.
Following the dramatic migrant invasion of the Spanish exclave city at the end of July by upwards of 70,000 illegal migrants from Morocco, thousands of children were abandoned by their families and told to remain in Ceuta, given the likelihood of receiving refugee status is higher for unaccompanied minors in the European Union, following which they can often apply to bring their families into their host country.
While the Islamic Alawite regime in Morocco has claimed that it would be willing to accept the return of the estimated 1,500 minor migrants, Spaniards across the political spectrum have treated such assertions from Rabat with a heavy dose of scepticism.
Rather than putting pressure on their North African neighbour, the Socialist Party-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has apparently pre-emptively surrendered on the issue, with Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, saying on Monday that a “majority” of the supposed migrant children will be given refugee status and be provided with accommodation in mainland Spain.
“Most of the minors want to stay in Spain, and they will stay because there is a law that protects them,” she told public broadcaster SER. “In our country, all children are equal before the law.”
Rego, a member of the Communist Party of Spain, criticised those on the right for allegedly “playing politics with children” as localities controlled by the conservative People’s Party or the anti-mass migration VOX party have suggested that they may seek to block minors being brought from Ceuta to their jurisdictions.
“I will not renounce exercising our responsibility with empathy. I find the trivialization of evil appalling. We must champion empathy, not as mere feel-goodism, but as a fundamental principle of democratic commitment,” the communist minister said.
On the other hand, the national spokesman for the populist VOX party, José Antonio Fúster, said on Monday that Madrid should tear up the repatriation treaty with Morocco if Rabat refuses to accept the return of all the migrants who stormed the border of Ceuta in July.
Fúster also expressed incredulity over the actual ages of many of the supposed minors, saying that the government should immediately perform age checks to determine if some are lying about their age to better their chances of receiving asylum.
Pretending to be a minor to game the system has been a longstanding practice among illegals seeking to relocate to Europe.
In one infamous case, an ISIS terrorist had been placed in a child migrant facility in Britain after posing as a 17-year-old boy while actually being a 42-year-old man.
At a press conference on Monday, Fúster said: “With all due respect, go to the unaccompanied minors’ centres and see if they aren’t children. Don’t call them children; it’s a mistake,” adding that it is easy to tell “the difference between a child or a 16 or 17-year-old and a guy with a beard.”
The VOX spokesman added that even in the case of genuine child migrants, it would be in the “best interest” of the children to “be with their families” and to remain in their own culture.