Ceuta Court Unable to Halt Repatriation of Moroccan Migrant Minors

The investigating judge of the Ceuta court explained that the Court did not make a favorable decision because it was informed that "the handover of the minors was carried out at 10 o’clock on the other side of the border", only five minutes after (9:55 am) the filing of the request by the Coordinadora de Barrios Association. The Attorney General who opened an investigation into these returns of Moroccan minors, also pleaded for the provisional suspension of the returns of these minors "until the procedure is reviewed and the administrative steps taken individually to proceed with the repatriation", according to judicial sources at Confilegal.

To read: UN Condemns Morocco’s Deportation of Unaccompanied Minors as Violation of International Law

The judge, who did not rule on the merits to determine whether the Ministry of the Interior had complied with all the legal requirements for the return of the minors to Morocco, justified his decision by stating that "in this case, the minors were under the guardianship of the autonomous city of Ceuta and were repatriated on the basis of the provisions of the agreement signed in 2007 between Spain and Morocco". The request asked "to suspend any material action aimed at repatriating the minors to Morocco, to order their immediate release and their return under the protection of the autonomous city of Ceuta".

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior launched on Friday the repatriation of the some 800 minors who arrived en masse in Ceuta in May, in waves of fifteen per day over a period of fifteen days, following the agreement concluded with Morocco. The Ombudsman and several organizations including the UN and UNICEF denounce the "illegal" nature of the operation and call for its suspension.