The Government will allocate an extraordinary fund of 25 million euros directed to the autonomous city of Ceuta for the care of unaccompanied minors who entered the enclave last Thursday. The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced this in a statement to the media in Madrid this Tuesday, in which she pointed out that this amount is added “to the 5.5 million that were distributed at the Childhood sectoral conference last July,” in which 35 million were distributed to all the autonomous communities. Saiz could not provide data on the number of migrant minors in the autonomous city, but Interior data indicate that more than 60,000 people crossed the border from Morocco, and that there are at least 90 dead.
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This new measure, according to Saiz, reinforces “that the government of Spain is supporting Ceuta” and “placing special emphasis on the most vulnerable.” Likewise, the minister has called for the “responsibility of all autonomous communities, including those governed by the Popular Party, to provide care” to migrant minors.
“Article 35 of the immigration law contemplates binding and supportive reception by the rest of the autonomous communities” of minors who arrived in Spain irregularly, according to sources from the Ministry of Youth and Childhood. The minister of this portfolio, Sira Rego, has announced that she will travel to Ceuta in the coming days to coordinate management from there. “The goal is to activate all available mechanisms to provide dignified reception to all these boys, girls, and adolescents,” they point out.
Likewise, the ministry points out that the reform of the immigration law, carried out during this legislature, also allows “establishing agreements with non-governmental organizations, foundations, and entities dedicated to the protection of minors” and the “family reunification of unaccompanied migrant boys, girls, and adolescents.” They clarify that the latter can only occur if they have relatives “in their countries of origin” and if there are “conditions that guarantee the best interests of the minor.”
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Although there is no data on the number of minors, Childhood assures that “individualized identification has been reinforced for each minor,” which, they point out, is “an essential step to offer an exact figure and to be able to transfer them to child protection devices.” The Ceuta Executive, led by the Popular Juan Vivas, estimates that it will have to care for more than a thousand migrant minors, and stated this Monday that they manage 862 migrant minors. Authorities believe there could be “some more on the street,” and therefore do not confirm an exact figure either.
The minors who spent the first hours sleeping at the door of a warehouse that the city has adapted near the El Tarajal border have been assisted and are being relocated, according to the Minister of Presidency, Alberto Gaitán, responsible for the Minors area of the autonomy. To respond to this situation, Childhood has confirmed that two educational centers will be enabled to provide “care to unaccompanied migrant minors who arrived last week” to the city, which has been in a situation of extraordinary migratory contingency since August 2025.
