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IMMIGRATION

Spain and Morocco in talks to repatriate migrant minors

Madrid and Rabat are in talks to repatriate thousands of Moroccan minors who arrived in Spain alone without their parents, a Spanish interior ministry spokesman said Friday.

Published: 5 October 2018 15:45 CEST
Spain and Morocco in talks to repatriate migrant minors
File photo of a child at emporary Center for Immigrants and Asylum Seekers (CETI) in the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Photo: AFP

The Spanish government estimates that about 10,000 minor migrants are living in Spain without their families — 70 percent of them from Morocco.   

The issue was discussed during a bilateral meeting held in Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast on September 14th, a spokesman for Spain's interior ministry said.

Spain's secretary of state for migration, Consuelo Rumi, “perceived a willingness” on the part of Morocco to repatriate unaccompanied minors living in Spain during the talks, the spokesman told AFP.

“There is no concrete plan yet, this is part of negotiations, of a diplomatic process,” he added.

The roughly 10,000 minor migrants in Spain are under the protection of the regions or cities where they arrive, mainly the southern region of Andalusia and the overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Africa.   

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Spain's central government wants to incentivise other regions to take charge of some of them. Last month it unblocked €40 million ($46.5 million) for regions willing to welcome them.

There has been criticism of the way Spain welcomes unaccompanied foreign minors, particularly in Melilla, where many sleep in the streets or in caves waiting to smuggle themselves onto a boat to mainland Europe.

In Ceuta, local government spokesman Jacob Hachuel recently said the minors should be returned to Morocco, saying “they are better off in their family entourage.”

Spain has become the biggest port of entry for clandestine migration into Europe after Italy largely closed its borders under pressure from far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

A total of 41,594 irregular migrants entered Spain between January 1st and September 30th, according to the interior ministry.

The vast majority, more than 36,000, arrived by sea, three times the amount which arrived by sea during the same time last year. Just under 5,000 crossed the land border with Ceuta and Melilla.

READ MORE: Spain overtakes Italy as sea route destination for migrants

CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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