Spain revises count of minors in Ceuta after duplicate records found

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The Spanish Interior Ministry revised the count of unaccompanied minors in Ceuta to approximately 1,500 after internal audits discovered duplicate database entries had previously inflated the figure to 2,168. This influx followed a mass arrival of migrants from Morocco that began on 30 July, leaving local authorities struggling with limited reception capacity. The central government called a meeting with autonomous regions for Thursday to discuss transferring minors and providing €25 million in funding to Ceuta, though representatives from regions governed by the Popular Party and Vox announced they would not attend.

Consequences

The administrative dispute between the central government and regional authorities over the distribution of minors threatens to exacerbate the capacity crisis within Ceuta’s child protection services. Furthermore, the legal requirement for individual assessments before any potential returns, underscored by prior Supreme Court rulings, will likely continue to limit the government's ability to repatriate minors from conflict-affected nations like Chad and Sudan.

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