«That, to Vivas. “Ask him”. It happened yesterday, in the halls of Congress. The journalist from La Sexta, Maria Llaparthe asked Pedro Sanchez: “How do you explain that there are still a thousand minors on the streets of Ceuta?” The president, who did not even stop his pace, looked out of the corner of his eye and shot the ball to the other side of the Strait.
A succinct and spontaneous statement that further cracks the relationship between both administrations, already resentful due to the conflict over the story. Moncloa agitates the theory that If the autonomous city is overflowing with unaccompanied minors, it is the fault of the local government. (PP), which vetoes transfers to the peninsula.
But the cabinet version Juan Jesus Vivas It is very different.
Piecemeal. The thousand minors to whom the reporter alluded are those who are still unaffiliated. In a limbo. Until the National Police identifies and reviews them, they will not become under the legal guardianship of the social services of Ceuta. From there: the local administration assures that it has not prevented any transfer of the 2,000 children it currently has. Because, to date, The Government, which is in charge of initiating the process, has not done the same.
explains it Alberto Gaitanadvisor to the Presidency and head of the Minors area: «No one has asked us for authorization for anything. This is ridiculous. Let them ask Vivas what? “The Government has sent us no proposal!” he stirs in statements to LA RAZÓN.
«It seems absolutely disloyal and lacking in rigor to get out of the way and blame an autonomous city that does not have the capacity to deal with 3,000 minors. “If they want to seek confrontation with President Vivas, they are completely wrong.”says Gaitán, who remembers the current situation of the city.
With the changes introduced by the Government in the Immigration Law and the subsequent decree that regulates the situation of extraordinary immigration contingency, the procedure remains exclusively in the hands of the central Government.
This is argued by the Councilor of the Ceuta Presidency: “We activated the immigration contingency last year and it has never stopped being active.” Because, since then, Ceuta has never failed to care for fewer than 87 minors. The migration contingency is activated when social services are saturated to the point of tripling their planned capacity. “The transfer resolutions are those of the Government delegate” and, until now, he has not lifted a finger.
For now, what there is are conversations between the city authorities and the Secretary of State for Youth and Children. And nothing more. «We have not vetoed absolutely anything. We are seeing what solutions the Government gives us. “He hasn’t offered us anything.” Of course, Gaitán differentiates the defiant attitude of Pedro Sánchez with that of the number two of Sira Rego. «The Secretary of State is in a different attitude of collaborating. We are looking at the solutions with him. It has not yet been put on the table to transfer it to minors,” he reveals.
It’s more. The alternatives that the Ceuta Minors area and the Ministry of Youth have considered go beyond the decree. «The derivation of the decree law, the Ministry itself sees that it is not feasible. Because it was not contemplated for that, it was contemplated for a canoe that reaches the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands… but 3,000 minors or more, because we do not know the exact number, is something exceptional. You have to find an appropriate answer. Yes“I know they are analyzing it, but they have not put a proposal on the table.”he insists.
The only person in the Government who, according to the advisor to the Presidency of Ceuta, is immersed in the search for a solution is Ruben Perez Correathe Secretary of State. “The sole command” that leads Angel Victor Torres “He hasn’t said anything.” What’s more, yesterday, in a statement from the autonomous city, the Minister of Territorial Policy supported Sánchez and shot at Vivas for the lack of control of minors. “What happens with the 800 or 1,000 minors who are on the streets of Ceuta is the responsibility of the autonomous city.”
The aforementioned, Gaitán, replies: «The norm says it clearly. The Police catch the minors, identify them, review them, they must be tested for age. Once they are certified, the city becomes guardian. But first we have nothing to do, except look for places like crazy to deal with this chaotic situation.
Since the crisis broke out, Ceuta services have enabled up to «seven extraordinary resources» to house the more than 2,000 minors who are registered with social services. The possibility of moving them to the Peninsula or distributing them among the communities, Gaitán maintains, has not even been considered. Because it has to be the Government that takes the first step. And he hasn’t done it yet.
Because the priority that the Government has always maintained is the return of minors to their country of origin. «If what Morocco says is true, that it is willing to receive them, that is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is for. Are you sure that Morocco is going to catch everyone as the Moroccan minister has stated?», asks the counselor.
In recent days, “the first repatriation files” have been initiated. Which correspond to the Government. And in the event that Rabat rejects the minors, Ceuta is not opposed to some of the departures that are being studied. «Let the autonomous communities that have the capacity take charge. But the communities already say that they do not have the capacity. So, there is an alternative way: «Let the third sector entities take charge. “We maintain guardianship and they maintain guardianship.”