Spain's far right refuses to take in migrant minors from Ceuta

Migrant minors in Ceuta: the bill nobody wants to pay

The question asks itself: who takes care of the minors who arrived in Ceuta after the mass entry of migrants? The figure of more than 70,000 people crossing the border from Segarro in just a few days shattered every previous record. Among them were hundreds of children alone. And now, the reception capacity of Ceuta and Melilla is overwhelmed. The Partido Popular (Spain's conservative party) has already had its say: it urges the Government to return them through the same border crossing and does not rule out rejecting the redistribution among regions.

The far right prefers to see a security problem

In the regions governed by the hard right, the answer is a flat no. They argue that resources should go to Spanish citizens and that mass reception is a threat. The other camp, the one calling for child protection, responds with a simple argument: they are minors, not invaders. Meanwhile, the debate has become entangled in political calculation: the Government is accused of using the crisis to punish opposing regions and of managing the redistribution with partisan criteria.

The bill nobody shows

Behind the dispute lies the real cost: food, education, healthcare and legal guardianship of each minor require a regional outlay that never appears in the speeches. Regions fight over not taking on the bill while the children remain in Ceuta, in overcrowded centres with no clear plan. Between the mantras of security and those of human rights, the irony is that nobody has presented a budget to care for them. And meanwhile, time goes by.