The Congress overturns the far-right Vox's plan to return all minors from Ceuta to Morocco with the support of the PP

The Congress of Deputies rejected this Wednesday the initiative with which Vox intended to force the return to Morocco of all migrant minors who arrived in Ceuta and stop their transfer to other autonomous communities. The Popular Party supported the far-right proposal, while the rest of the groups voted against it.

The non-binding bill demanded the application of the agreement signed between Spain and Morocco in 2007 as a way to return minors to their country of origin. Vox also demanded to immediately stop any relocation to the Peninsula while age tests and repatriation files continued.

Far-right deputy Blanca Armario argued during the debate that Spain has "no moral duty" to host these children and adolescents. "Morocco has sufficient and adequate capacity," she affirmed before accusing the Government of distributing them throughout the territory for the benefit of social organizations that participate in their care.

The initiative has been thwarted by a parliamentary majority that has warned of its lack of fit with the legal guarantees that protect minors. PSOE, Sumar, PNV, EH Bildu, Junts, Podemos and Coalición Canaria have agreed to reject a proposal that presented the return as a general decision applicable to all children remaining in Ceuta.

The agreement requires studying each case

The bilateral agreement contemplates the possibility of favoring the return of minors with their families or their delivery to a Moroccan guardianship institution. The same text requires that any decision respect Spanish legislation, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the best interest of each minor.

Spain and Morocco must also reach a prior agreement on the cases that may be subject to return. Authorities must identify the minor, locate their family, and verify that they will have an adequate reception. The document also requires providing in Spain the same protection recognized for national minors while their situation is being processed.

This regulation prevents using the agreement as an automatic return order. The Ombudsman already warned that each procedure requires listening to the minor, requesting reports from protection services and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and studying the family conditions they will find in the country of origin.

The socialist deputy María Carmen Castilla has accused Vox of using childhood to fuel its "politics of fear" and of including "falsehoods" and a profound ignorance of the legal system in its initiative. "The agreement is not a button to return everyone," she responded during the debate.

Sumar has been even more forceful. Its deputy Nahuel González has described the proposal as "racist" and has recalled the words spoken by José María Figaredo, a Vox leader, when he called for "hunting" migrants one by one who remained in Ceuta. "Today it is already a reality. There are children persecuted and assaulted in the streets," he denounced.

The PNV has questioned Vox presenting its text as aid to Ceuta while blocking the transfer of minors to other territories. Coalición Canaria has also censored the "absolute contempt" towards communities located on the southern border and has defined the generic appeal to the agreement with Morocco as a "toast to the sun."

The PP aligns with Vox against transfers

The Popular Party has voted alongside the far-right after demanding in recent weeks that Morocco assume the protection of minors. Deputy Ana Alós has argued that their distribution among the autonomous communities can favor them being used again as an instrument of pressure at the border.

Alós has also accused the Government of turning the autonomies into "the window" of a state migratory policy. Her intervention ended with new suspicions about Pedro Sánchez's relationship with Rabat. "What do they owe him? What do they fear from Morocco for such submission?" she asked from the tribune.

The Government has begun this week to process the individual files of the more than 2,000 minors already identified and cared for in Ceuta. The first option will be family reunification when their identity can be accredited, there is a safe reception in Morocco, and the return responds to their best interest.

Minors who lack an adequate family network, need international protection, or cannot return with guarantees will be transferred to the Peninsula. The Executive considers this relocation essential to relieve overwhelmed reception services and also to care for the hundreds of children who still remain on the streets of the autonomous city.

The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, has announced that next Wednesday he will offer the first data on the files. The situation committee will then have to determine how many minors can be reunited with their families in Morocco and how many will have to be taken in by other autonomous communities.