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Why Spain legally can't send underage migrants from Ceuta back to Morocco · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Morocco has been beeping up security along its border with
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  Speaker 1: the Spanish exclave of Ciuta. This comes after rumors spread
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  Speaker 1: on the Internet of a new wave of attempts to
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  Speaker 1: enter the territory. Last month, tens of thousands of migrants
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  Speaker 1: descended on Ceo, attempt overwhelming border guards. Eighty died in
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  Speaker 1: the attempt. Morocco has usked Spain to return underage migrants
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  Speaker 1: who are still in protective custody. Here skip more on
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  Speaker 1: this now with Kate Hooper. She's a senior policy analyst
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  Speaker 1: with Migration Policy Institute. So, Kate, unaccompanied Moroccan miners have
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  Speaker 1: found their way to Spanish territory next door in Ceoto.
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  Speaker 1: What status do these miners have in this situation?
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  Speaker 2: So, Spain and Morocco have worked well together to return
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  Speaker 2: the majority of people who crossed and say it to
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  Speaker 2: two weeks ago. So the latest estimates from the Spanish
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  Speaker 2: government worked that about eighty thousand people made the crossing
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  Speaker 2: and the vast majority have gone back, leaving about eight
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  Speaker 2: thousand people left in Sata. Of that, we understand around
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  Speaker 2: two and a half thousand to three thousand are unaccompanied
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  Speaker 2: miners and they are subject to different treatment under Spanish
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  Speaker 2: and EU law. So whereas Spain and Morocco have got
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  Speaker 2: a readmission agreement that allows them to quickly return adults,
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  Speaker 2: there are steps that Spain now has to go through
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  Speaker 2: to identify unaccompanied miners, verify who they are, and then
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  Speaker 2: figure out if they've got a safe pace to return.
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  Speaker 2: So the process for dealing with unaccompanied miners is distinct
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  Speaker 2: from the regime for adults. In this situation, we heard the.
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  Speaker 1: Moroccan Justice minister saying that his country has moral and
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  Speaker 1: legal obligations with respect to those young people who have
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  Speaker 1: crossed into Theota. What obligations is he talking about?
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  Speaker 2: So Morocco and Spain will end up working closely together
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  Speaker 2: to process this caseload. So here we're expecting to see
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  Speaker 2: Morocco and Spain to working together to identify the children
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  Speaker 2: who are in Sayuta and to also make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they've got a safe place to return. But it will
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  Speaker 2: take time, and so while there's been pressure from the
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  Speaker 2: Moroccan side to move quickly to return Moroccan children and
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  Speaker 2: reunite them with their families, legally Spain's hands are tied.
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  Speaker 2: They do have to go through this process and put
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  Speaker 2: them into a system that we already know is fairly overburdened.
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  Speaker 2: So there's potential, even with great goodwill on both sides,
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  Speaker 2: that this process may take months to play out.
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  Speaker 1: Presumably the miners in question do not wish to return
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  Speaker 1: to Morocco. They didn't return when so many others did.
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  Speaker 1: Do we know why are they seeking asylum?
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to tell, but certainly we know that there
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  Speaker 2: are really challenging circumstances on the ground in Sayata which
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  Speaker 2: really speak to the incentive to stay. So STA's reception
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  Speaker 2: capacity is completely overwhelmed, and we've seen reports of children
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  Speaker 2: and adults ending up sleeping rough on the streets and
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  Speaker 2: on the beaches, having very little support in the way
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  Speaker 2: of food and water initially, and relying on handouts from locals.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a really challenging situation for these children to
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  Speaker 2: be in two weeks later, and I speak, I think
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  Speaker 2: that speaks to both the circumstances that these children are
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  Speaker 2: leaving behind and also the potential draw of what Spain
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  Speaker 2: may offer them. So I think, you know, we know that,
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  Speaker 2: for example, use unemployment in Morocco is very high, that
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  Speaker 2: there are limited jobs available for young people, whereas you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think that some of these children do look towards
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  Speaker 2: Spain as a way to sort of offer greater economic opportunities.
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  Speaker 2: We also don't know the role that smugglers have played
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  Speaker 2: in facilitating these crossings. It seems like a lot of
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  Speaker 2: this was spontaneous, but there may be circumstances where, you know,
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  Speaker 2: families have ended up taking on debt to make this journey,
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  Speaker 2: which makes the decision to return home without anything at
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  Speaker 2: all even more difficult to countenance.
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  Speaker 1: Can you explain to reviewers briefly why the border there
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  Speaker 1: between Morocco and Soyota has become such a flash point
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  Speaker 1: lately and what does this situation in Soota tell us
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  Speaker 1: about Europe's migration challenge.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's been a flashpoint just because of the
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  Speaker 2: shin number of people who've crossed. Overall, irregular migration to
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  Speaker 2: Europe is actually down on past years, so we've seen
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  Speaker 2: the number of people making these crossings actually fall across Europe.
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  Speaker 2: But so, you too, really illustrated how this chaos can
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  Speaker 2: play out at the border. You know, eighty thousand people
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  Speaker 2: crossing in mere days is really unprecedented and really speaks
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  Speaker 2: to the challenges that can play out at these borders,
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  Speaker 2: and I think from a sort of European policy perspective,
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  Speaker 2: it also showed the ongoing limitations of European solidarity. So
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  Speaker 2: the EU has passed a new Pact on Migration and
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  Speaker 2: Asylum which is designed to sort of create common European
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  Speaker 2: procedures around processing people and screening, limit borders and addressing
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  Speaker 2: this question of you know, how do other member states
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  Speaker 2: support frontline member states. But the reality is that this
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  Speaker 2: test came arguably a little too early to really test
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  Speaker 2: out the provisions of the pact. But it also showed that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the fundamental question of solidarity wasn't really resolved right,
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  Speaker 2: So member states still blame Spain for the crisis playing out.
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  Speaker 2: There was a lot of finger pointing in the days
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  Speaker 2: after the crisis. Spain ended up, you know, relying more
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  Speaker 2: on its bilateral relationship with Morocco then on EU support,
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  Speaker 2: and I think it illustrated how solidarity around migration remains
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  Speaker 2: quite fragile among member states.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, just quickly, if you can, rumors are circulating
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  Speaker 1: that suggest people in Morocco wanting to reach Europe may
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  Speaker 1: try to induce you to enlarge numbers again this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of that.
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  Speaker 2: I think the distinction is that this has been rumored
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  Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks, and Spanish and Moroccan authorities
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  Speaker 2: are working preemptively to try and down these rumors and
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  Speaker 2: to really say that the border is closed. One of
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  Speaker 2: the challenges with the events of two weeks ago was
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  Speaker 2: that this court Spanish authorities unaware, and so now we've
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  Speaker 2: seen investments proactively in border capacity and messaging to say
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  Speaker 2: that the border is closed and that this opportunity doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's a key distinction and why we're
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  Speaker 2: unlikely to see the events repeat themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Kate, thank you so much. Though was Kate Hooper, senior
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  Speaker 1: policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you