Spain: deportation to Morocco of more than 700 minor migrants

Moroccan miners line up to receive some food in Ceuta on May 19, 2021. (Photo illustration) REUTERS - JON NAZCA

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2 min

In May, some 10,000 Moroccans had joined the Spanish enclave of Ceuta thanks to the wanted laxity of the Moroccan security forces.

Of these, 2-3,000 were minors.

The majority had been expelled immediately and others returned to Morocco on their own initiative.

There were a thousand left.

Since Friday, the Interior Ministry has already repatriated 700 of them, on the sly.

This provokes strong reactions among NGOs and even within the socialist government.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

François Musseau 

This expulsion of 700 unaccompanied Moroccan minors is the subject of heated debate. Admittedly, this forced return operation is part of a bilateral agreement between Spain and Morocco, two countries which experienced a strong diplomatic crisis last May. But, for the rest, this expulsion provokes criticism from everywhere. From the right-wing opposition, from the left-wing Podemos party, a member of the government coalition, from certain ministries and also from non-governmental organizations working for the rights of immigrant minors.

All, as well as the Defender of the People, accuse the Ministry of the Interior of not having respected the usual repatriation protocol, of not having publicly informed of it and, above all, of having violated one of the fundamental principles of the legislation concerning repatriation. young immigrants: namely that it is appropriate to act " 

in the best interests of the minor

 ".

However, it is pointed out, the vast majority of these adolescents had no desire to return to the country, where poverty and idleness await them.

In the heart of August, neither the Minister of the Interior nor the head of government Pedro Sanchez has yet spoken on this controversial action. 

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