Moroccan Minors in Ceuta Resist Repatriation, Endure Street Life

With burn marks, wounds and scars on their bodies, most of these minors have been living on the streets of Ceuta since their arrival in May. They beg to survive. "At first they gave us a lot to eat, but today we get less and less," says one of them, a 12-year-old from Tetouan. Yet he is not interested in returning to Morocco.

Like him, Ali (a pseudonym), another 15-year-old minor, is determined to stay in Spain. "If they repatriate me, I will come back to Spain," he assures. Ali confides that he is ready to do anything to join his older brother in Algeciras as soon as possible. That’s why he hangs around the port area, watching for any opportunity to sneak onto a boat and cross the strait. "I’m a tire vulcanizer. I repair tires and I would like to continue working here. Life in Morocco is not good. I dropped out of school and started working very early. My family doesn’t want me to come back," says Ali. Despite his homeless situation, he does not despair. "Things change every day here, I have good hope," he added.

Tarek (a pseudonym), another 17-year-old minor, also does not complain about living on the street. "I feel much better on the street than in the center. There, we suffocate, they don’t even let us go out to breathe air at the door. That’s why I escaped a month ago," he says, referring to the Santa Amelia sports center from which 55 minors have already been repatriated since Friday. "My dream is to join Spain and build a better life," confides the young man who was addicted to drugs. "I’ve been living on the street since I was seven years old. In Fnideq, I had drug problems and went through a very bad time. When I arrived in Ceuta, I stopped everything. I don’t take anything anymore, I’m trying to improve," he says. And he adds: "I want to stay here. If they repatriate me, I’ll come back, by swimming or by other means. My mother is happy that I’m here and asks me not to go back to Morocco."

Tarek admits that he also escaped from the sports center and that several of his friends are among the group of 55 minors already repatriated to Morocco since Friday, an operation launched by the Ministry of the Interior that violates international law, according to the UN and several human rights organizations who have called for its suspension. The Spanish justice has ordered the suspension of these collective returns, and has ordered the government to justify the legality of these collective returns.