The Government of Cantabria (PP) has requested the repatriation of 18 foreign minors not accompanied by the 26 that protects in its territory, and has confirmed this newspaper. The initiative responds to the agreement to which the popular with Vox, a timely partner in Parliament a few months ago. The Cantabrian Executive lacks competition to execute returns and asks the Government Delegation to initiate these procedures. Appeals for this to “the best interests of the child is satisfied with the regrouping with his family in his country of origin” citing the Foreigner Law.
Eight of the minors come from Morocco, another four of Gambia and the others are of Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakri, Tunisia, Malí, Moldova and Algeria. The 18 files, which the country has accessed, are identical and simply varies the name of the child in question. They do not deepen the reasons why the best interests of those affected would be to return to their countries or information regarding their family situation. The regional government does not clarify why it has chosen these 18 minors and not others of the 26 protected as susceptible to that repatriation.
The document, signed by the deputy director of the Childhood, Adolescence and Family Area, Jaime Serdio Agüeros, says of himself that “it serves to inform that there are no circumstances indicating that repatriation can be inconvenient for the minor.”
This Cantabrian attempt clashes against other cases where justice has prevented autonomies from returning minors to their territory. The last similar case was in Ceuta in 2021, when some 1,200 children agreed to the autonomous city but finally, among the local government, the Government Delegation and the Interior and Foreign Ministries agreed to expel half a hundred from them.
Sources of the Government Delegation affirm that the files “as marked by the administrative procedure” will be responded to and they clarify that this expatriation procedure “violates all Spanish and international legislation regarding childhood protection, is contrary to international law, to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court”.
The Minister of Social Inclusion, Begoña Gómez del Río, has branded the controversy of “artificial and interested” and has argued that “the Government of Cantabria does not intend the expulsion of any unaccuted foreigner. Dignity and with the proper protection, ”he said, although it was a high position of the Cantabrian Executive who signed the files that endorsed the favorable consideration towards the extradition of those affected, beyond, as Gomez del Río added, the competition is state.
The movement of the Cantabrian Government derives from a Vox motion approved on March 17 in Parliament with the support of the PP to sign agreements for the reintegration of unaccompanied foreign minors with their countries of origin, the votes of both parties allowed the motion to prosper, which received the refusal of the PSOE and the abstention of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC), previous group in the regional power. His parliamentarian Rosa Díaz recalled that from 2019 to 2024 he dropped the number of unaccompanied foreign minors protected by the community: from 77 to 29. He also stressed that before more than four million euros were allocated and that it is currently not reached at one million, while none of those 24 children had any judicial measure. After the controversy, the head of Social Services has argued that Cantabria has no competences and that she simply sent the cases to the delegation, although in the 18 documents it states that the deputy director of the Department of the Autonomous Executive approves the repatriation.
The socialist leader in Cantabria, Pedro Casares, has claimed an “urgent and immediate” rectification and has loaded against the measure of the Cantabrian government: “We are talking about children. It is infamous news and we are chilling. We demand an immediate rectification to the Popular Party and the Government of Cantabria. This file cannot continue a minute more.”
“Triquiñuelas” to “breach the rights” of minors
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has described the positions of the communities governed by the PP to “breach the rights” of migrant minors not accompanied by refusing their distribution on Tuesday. But it distinguishes them, yes, to the Canarian PP, from which Clavijo says that he is committed to the distribution of minors. The leader of the PP in the islands. Manuel Domínguez, also assured this Tuesday that, although the law on the derivation of migrants do not like some autonomous communities, “they have little to say” except to comply with it, and that the State will have to enforce it, reports Guillermo Vega.
