Ceuta Overwhelmed by Influx of Moroccan Minors, Judge Warns

"Ceuta is a small town; it does not have the means to handle this situation," warns José Luis Puerta, who, since the onset of the crisis on May 17, had visited the Tarajal warehouse, the first space set up to accommodate the minors. At that time, the children were left to their own devices. "There was a lack of coordination between the police and the autonomous city, we did not know who was in charge of what and the hygiene conditions were not adequate," the prosecutor said.

Today, the situation has improved somewhat, acknowledges the magistrate, who nevertheless deplores the unsuitable conditions of the two other spaces set up by the city to receive the migrants. "I visited the sports center, it’s a pavilion with beds and mobile toilets. As an emergency situation, it is valid, but it cannot be maintained over time. You can be like this for two or three months, but no more," Puerta explains.

"Above all, I am concerned about the problems of overcrowding and coexistence that may arise," adds Puerta, who is also concerned about the education of the minors, a few months before the start of the school year. "I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but the children have to go to school," he says.

Most Moroccan families, rather than retrieving their children, preferred to have them remain in Spain. This has complicated the situation, the judge points out, also deploring the "lack of cooperation from the Moroccan authorities" in the context of the return of these minors to Morocco. "It depends on the will of Morocco. The agents must allow the parents to enter Ceuta or approach the border so that the public entity can verify that the children do not show any refusal when they see their relatives. This handover of the children, with good criteria in my opinion, should be done to the parents themselves and not to the police," Puerta argues.

Puerta also denounces the slowness of the police in the procedure prior to the repatriation of the minors (examinations, registration in the official register and assignment of an NIE number). According to sources close to the case, the police have examined 1,108 minors, but have only registered a little more than 200 in the official register.

For the moment, the prosecutor "does not see a good solution" to the situation. "The solution is to transfer them to the peninsula or to Europe and to talk to entities that can take care of them, because the public administrations do not have enough capacity," he explains.

Regarding Achraf, the 16-year-old Moroccan migrant whose hot expulsion was recorded by photojournalist Jon Nazca of the Reuters agency, and which led to the opening of an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office, the judge specifies that on this video, it is clearly seen "the military expelling not only a minor, but several." It is now up to the justice system "to identify the perpetrator and study the nature of the act," adds Puerta, who recalls that "the procedure for repatriating minors is provided for by law and non-compliance can be a crime."