Spanish Court Reaffirms Illegal Status of Moroccan Minor Repatriations from Ceuta

The vice-president of the Ceuta government, María Isabel Deu, stated during her appearance last December that the minors were repatriated to Morocco without any investigation into their families of origin. The order to repatriate these minors was given by the government delegate, Salvadora Mateos, who received the instructions from the Ministry of the Interior with which she was "in daily and permanent contact", recalls El Mundo.

Deu went to the minors’ stay centers to inform them of their repatriation. But it was Mateos who signed the decree, in relation with the ministry of Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Only the children who were not in a vulnerable situation in their country of origin were affected by these returns. As for the family situation of the adolescents, Deu and Mateos entrusted it to the NGOs, but Deu admitted that she never tried to find out the outcome of this procedure.

The vice-president also assured that at the time, she trusted Morocco and had no doubt about its "competence and ability to reunite the minors with their families". For the prosecutor, the repatriations should have been carried out in accordance with the law on foreigners and not within the framework of an agreement between Spain and Morocco.

For its part, the judge has opened an investigation into the return of these minors after a complaint was filed by an association to denounce the "illegal" nature of these returns. Mateos and Deu are summoned to appear on September 7th. The plaintiff association has announced that it could also request the appearance of the Minister of the Interior as a witness.