Ceuta warns of ‘unsustainable’ situation for child migrants after influx

• The leader of Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta on Aug 5 said the number of children left there after last week’s irregular migrant rush was “unsustainable”, pleading for government aid.

Spain says it has returned to neighbouring Morocco 70,000 of the 72,000 migrants who entered Ceuta from July 30 in scenes that infuriated European Union partners seeking a harder line on irregular immigration.

But the roughly 2,500 who remain include hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are enduring dire conditions with limited access to food, water, shelter and sanitation.

Ceuta’s leader Juan Jesus Vivas told public broadcaster RTVE that the authorities were taking care of 1,100 migrant minors against a theoretical capacity of 90.

“This is an absolutely unsustainable situation,” said Vivas, adding that there was “a high risk for order and public security” as reception centres were overwhelmed.

The Spanish government’s top official in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, conceded on Aug 5 that “there are still minors in our streets and that is a priority, a source of great concern”.

“We are asking for help, for assistance from the rest of Spain” through the central government, said Vivas, who renewed his criticism of the leftist administration’s “late and clearly insufficient” response to the crisis.

The charity Save the Children estimates that around 1,000 “unprotected” minors are among the migrants still in Ceuta.

Any redistribution of the children to the rest of Spain under existing legal provisions is likely to meet resistance from regions governed by the conservative Popular Party (PP) and the anti-immigration, far-right Vox.

Socialist Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo insisted on public television that the PP and its regional governments “must comply with the law just like everyone else”.

The Ministry for Youth and Children on Aug 4 announced €25 million (S$37 million) of emergency funding for Ceuta to help the tiny territory of 84,000 inhabitants care for the minors.

Two schools have been converted into reception centres for unaccompanied migrant minors, especially girls, the ministry said. AFP