30 foreign parents arrested for passing off their children as unaccompanied minors

Tarragona / BarcelonaThey were called "the Erasmus" because they were different from the others. unaccompanied foreign minors who arrive by boat. Perhaps because they had an expensive phone or because of the stories they told. Finally, the nickname given to them by the National Police has turned out to be true because a fraud has been uncovered in Tarragona in which several parents abandoned their children so that the latter would declare themselves abandoned and could enter the protection system. At the moment, there are thirty parents arrested and 22 of these children have returned to their biological family, although the investigation is still 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) when it detected the presence of children who had supposedly arrived alone in Tarragona and, therefore, the agency assumed guardianship due to the absence of legal guardians, according to the Minister of Social Rights and Inclusion, Mònica Mar. In reality, in these cases there was a pattern of "deliberate" abandonment of the minors because their parents left them near police stations or social services and instructed them on how to present themselves in order to enter a reception center.

The minors, accompanied by their families, had entered Spanish territory legally and with a class C tourist visa or multiple entry visa, which requires proof of great financial solvency, with the aim, according to the National Police, that the boys could benefit from the education or healthcare offered by the protection system of childhood. Once they reached the age of majority, the idea was to reunite with their families to obtain residence permits for the family group. Police estimates put the amount of fraud in the system at up to one and a half million euros, taking into account the cost of maintenance in the centers.

At this point, the investigation has identified 124 files of minors in protection centers in Tarragona that could be linked to this type of fraud. Of these, 109 were analyzed and 28 reports were processed. The arrested parents are accused of child abandonment, facilitating illegal immigration, and fraud against public administration.

Two family profiles

There are two profiles of the detained families. On the one hand, there are parents with a medium-high purchasing power who left their children in Catalonia and then returned to their country of origin, with periodic visits to maintain contact with their children. On the other hand, there are families with less economic means, who stayed in Catalonia and maintained telephone contact.

Organizations that accompany migrants to Camp de Tarragona report that they had detected this practice of Erasmus students some time ago, which they often claimed not having documentation, something common. Identification is subsequently achieved through police checks and paperwork in the country of origin. However, they were surprised to find their profiles were different from the majority of unaccompanied minors under the care of the public administration and they had greater financial means.

From Blanes, the regional minister underscored the "fundamental task" of the system to protect vulnerable minors, while assuring them that they will not give in "to any attempt by anyone" to take advantage. "If it is already shocking that the administration is approached by people intent on fraud, it is especially so when minors are used and attempts are made to distort or pervert the protection system, a system that has a fundamental task to protect minors," Martínez Bravo emphasized, highlighting the close collaboration with the National Police throughout the National Police.

Precedent in Ibiza

Although the 30 detainees are only parents who left their children in the Tarragona region, it is not ruled out that more cases could spread to other parts of the territory. In fact, earlier this month it was learned that The island councils of Menorca and Ibiza had detected at least four minors who had arrived on the islands by plane, allegedly with the knowledge of their parents. Furthermore, no details have been given as to the extent to which the fraudulent practice was carried out under the umbrella of an organized structure that ran a business.

The National Police continues to quantify the expenses derived from guardianship to incorporate them into the final report. At the end of September, the DGPPIA had 2,377 foreign minors in its guardianship, 40% of whom are from Morocco and more than 60% of whom are over 17 years old.