Police in Spain have arrested 30 people who allegedly abandoned their children, telling them to pose as lone child migrants so they would be taken into state care. Officials in the Balearic Islands said previously they were seeing a “new phenomenon” of parents from Africa flying to the holiday destination and dumping their youngsters.
A welfare council chief in Menorca said previously that two youngsters, including an 11-year-old, were left at a bus station before their mums and dads flew home. Another official in Ibiza said two children were recently left on the island by their parents and given instructions to head to a police station so they could receive refugee treatment. Police in the east coast province of Tarragona confirmed the horrifying practice appears to be far more well-established than imagined by confirming 30 arrests.
A police spokesman in Spain’s Catalonia region, which includes Tarragona, said: “The National Police has detected a fraud involving a sophisticated modus operandi in the system of unaccompanied foreign minors in the province of Tarragona.
“Operation AME has revealed a systematic pattern of deliberate abandonment of children by their own parents in order to exploit the state’s welfare and guardianship resources.”
He said an investigation which began in November 2023 uncovered how families bring their underage children to Spain on single or multiple-entry C-type tourist visas, obtained despite the strict financial solvency requirements.
The spokesman said once in Spain, youngsters are intentionally abandoned near police stations, juvenile centres or other public institutions.
He added: “Following their parents’ instructions, the children declare themselves to be in a situation of neglect in order to activate the protection system and be admitted to care centres.
“The main objective is for public institutions to assume the costs of maintenance, education and health, while facilitating the path to future family reunification and the obtaining of residence permits for the minors.”
Spain’s National Police said it has identified two profiles of families involved in such fraud. The first are parents with medium-high purchasing power and multiple Schengen visas, who abandon their children and return to their country, maintaining scheduled visits to the centres.
The second type includes less well-off parents who stay in Spain and maintain contact with their children by phone.
The National Police said in a statement: “This fraudulent practice not only undermines the child protection system, but also entails a high cost for the state.”
Figures from the force show that the daily cost of looking after these children can range from £27 to £122 (€31 to €140).
According to the force, the parents were arrested on suspicion of child abandonment, aiding illegal immigration and fraud against the Spanish government.
The National Police reported the cases led to a social security fraud amounting to £1.3million (€1.5million). Besides the 30 arrests, 22 youngsters were returned to their parents.
Spain’s right-wing Popular Party has responded by demanding an audit of the system of care for unaccompanied minors across Catalonia.
Officials in the Balearic Islands have already vented their frustration over the abandonment of youngsters from Africa there following record numbers of arrivals by boat from Algeria.
Carolina Escandell, Ibiza Council’s Welfare Minister, said: “This is child abandonment and if they were Spanish the parents would be reported.”
Menorcan Welfare Minister, Carmen Reynes, said: “We have expressed our concern because as well as having to cope with migrants arriving by sea, this new phenomenon now has to be taken into account. It could have a knock-on effect.”
