In Spain, the prosecution has recognized that the expulsions of minors from Ceuta to Morocco, in May 2021 after the massive crossing to the Spanish enclave, should have been done in accordance with immigration law and not through the bilateral agreement for the readmission of foreigners between Rabat and Madrid. In this sense, justice has pointed to a responsibility of the Spanish government delegation, with the approval of the Ministry of the Interior, which “at no time was worried about the procedure to be followed and intervened with precise instructions on the basis of the return agreement”, analyzed this Friday the newspaper The world.
According to the vice-president of the government of Ceuta, Spain expelled the minors “without knowing who their families were, or where they were going to go once outside the territory”. María Isabel Deu, suspected by the Spanish public prosecutor of being implicated in the process, would have argued before the prosecution that she did not know beforehand “who were the original families”. El Mundo also specifies that the concerned, heard with the government delegate Salvadora Mateos, declared not to have had access to the documentation for this purpose, despite having requested it.
The renewal operation was however supervised by the Ministry of the Interior, which “was quickly informed” of the crossings at the level of the border and “designed the steps to be followed, while Mateos gave his instructions” for the enforce. “In theory, the minors returned should be those who were not in a situation of vulnerability in their country of origin”, specifies the media.
Regarding data on the family situation of adolescents, Deu and Mateos “have left the task of collecting them to NGOs”, the newspaper further indicates. “They located (NGO officials) close to the minors and questioned them to determine the situations of vulnerability”, retained the prosecution.
The public prosecutor thus pointed to the government’s decision to use the agreement between Spain and Morocco to remove minors, which Spanish NGOs such as the association L’Escola AC denounced, by taking legal action. Mateos and Deu are summoned again before the investigating judge on September 7. In the same case, the Spanish Immigration and Refugee Aid Network announced that it had filed a request to summon the Spanish Minister of the Interior as a witness.