Fraud must be fought always and everywhere. No exceptions. Whether it comes from above or below. We're too accustomed to the "law made, trap set" mentality, a plague that comes from afar. In all cases, fraud generates and amplifies the feeling of distrust and impunity, thus spreading citizen disaffection toward institutions. The disgruntled reaction usually goes like this: "If there are people who are dedicated to breaking the rules to benefit from everyone's money, why should I comply? Why should I pay my taxes? In the end, I will be the only person who will comply with their obligations and will not break the rules." This mischief is easily contagious.
The case of the foreigners who have passed off their children as unaccompanied minors, deliberately abandoning them so they could enter the protection system under the tutelage of the Generalitat, only provides ammunition for those who reject any reception policy. Far-right groups will already be preparing an agitation campaign based on this example to fuel the idea that those who come from outside are taking advantage of social assistance at the expense of those at home. It doesn't matter that the data refutes this and that social organizations denounce the difficulty of reaching the most vulnerable, who are usually excluded from assistance. A regrettable case like this fuels their efforts to create a widespread climate of blaming entire groups.
The uncovering of this abuse network is both worrying and good news. It's worrying because it should have been intercepted earlier, which means the administration doesn't have sufficient oversight mechanisms: with public money, it's necessary to be very rigorous, transparent, and effective. It's also good news. Because a significant social fraud has been put to an end, with false figures who were not actually the most vulnerable, hence why they were internally called "the Erasmus students" and were under suspicion because it was obvious they had more resources than the majority.
At the moment, there are about thirty parents detained in this case, and 22 of them returned to their biological families. But the investigation remains open. The suspicion first arose in November 2023.former DGAIA, replaced a few months ago by the DGPPIA(the General Directorate for the Prevention and Protection of Children and Adolescents). The offenders' objective was twofold. On the one hand, to obtain, through this fraudulent means, direct healthcare and education benefits for their children from the child protection department of the Generalitat (Catalan Government). And, on the other, once they reached the age of majority, to reunite with their families to obtain residence permits for the family group. One hundred and twenty-four cases of minors in protection centers in Tarragona were identified that could be linked to this type of illegality. Of these, 109 were analyzed and 28 reports were processed. The accusations against the parents are: abandonment of minors, facilitating illegal immigration, and fraud in public administration.
Distorting and perverting the child protection system harms genuinely unaccompanied minors, who are truly vulnerable.
