Hundreds of teenage migrants lined up outside a church in Ceuta in early October, hoping for good news from Spain's youth minister CEUTA, Spain -- Hundreds of teenage migrants lined up outside a church in Ceuta in early October, hoping Spain's visiting minister of youth would bring them some good news: passage to continental Europe or at least a spot in a shelter. For two months, they had slept on cardboard sheets and ripped sofas in squalid tent camps, or on the streets of the Spanish city in North Africa that juts into the Mediterranean like a thumb. On clear days, southern Spain is visible on the horizon.
Among them was a 17-year-old aspiring model from northern Morocco. In late July, he crossed into Ceuta with around 80,000 others in what would become Spain’s deadliest border crisis. But instead, the teens were led down a steep hill to a soccer field so as not to overwhelm the minister.
Within hours, many were back on the streets and hillsides. Another setback for the young migrants, the scene also illustrated the Spanish government’s slow, often improvised response to the migration crisis in the territory. Thousands of minors reached Ceuta alone and, under Spanish law, are entitled to shelter, healthcare and education.
Experts acknowledge the difficulties authorities face, but say the government may simply be hoping that many of them give up and head home. About 140 people died trying to cross. Most of those who made it left within days, but officials do not have an exact count of how many people stayed.
A few thousand people lived in one beachside camp where the air reeked of human waste. Children as young as 13 slept and showered among adult men who frequently broke into fights. Elsewhere, minors hid in the steep, narrow streets of some of the city’s predominantly Muslim neighborhoods.
Spanish prosecutors are investigating reports of torture and mistreatment of migrants, including minors. In September, Amnesty International published a report detailing allegations of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment by Spanish soldiers. The report also mentioned the unsafe conditions of underage migrants and allegations of sexual abuse of girls.
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