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Rabat – Security services in the Spanish enclave of Melilla arrested two Moroccan women on Saturday last week after catching the women abandoning their children in the autonomous city.
The public prosecutor in the autonomous Spanish city of Melilla in Northern Morocco has decided not to prosecute two Moroccan women who police arrested for attempting to abandon their children in the Spanish enclave, Europa Press reports.
The two women and their children will, however, face deportation back to Morocco.
A judge initially sentenced the women to six months in prison, but took into account their clean criminal records.
In 2018, Melilla’s then Counselor for Social Welfare Daniel Ventura estimated the number of Moroccan unaccompanied minors in Melilla at 1,400.
Spanish media El Espanol reported that the move to repatriate the minors along with their mothers is the first of its kind, despite the presence of an agreement between Spain and Morocco allowing Spanish authorities to deport unaccompanied minors.
The decision comes amid concerns from the Spanish enclaves about the tightened restrictions Morocco has enforced to clamp down on smuggling.
Read Also: Moroccans Remain Top Foreign Community Claiming Social Security in Spain
Recently, Melilla and Ceuta expressed frustration about Morocco’s new, stricter policy. The Spanish enclaves accused Morocco of intentionally suffocating the cities’ economies
Morocco’s government took the decision to impose restrictions in response to the detrimental effects of smuggling on its economy.
Despite recent tensions between the enclaves and Morocco, Spain and the North African country are determined to continue to cooperate to stop the scourge of undocumented migration.
Irregular migration remains a thorn in the side of Spanish enclaves Ceuta and Melilla.
While the issue of migration prevails, the Spanish government has expressed deep satisfaction with Morocco’s cooperation to curb migratory issues.
The Spanish government said that Morocco’s cooperation helped Spain to cut irregular migration by 50% last year.
Last week, Spanish Minister of Interior Fernando Grande Marlaska said that Spain could not have achieved the cut in irregular migration without cooperation from Spain’s partners, notably Morocco.
“A real partnership with the countries of origin and transit is necessary,” Marlaska said.
Morocco’s security services aborted 73,973 irregular migration attempts in 2019 as part of its efforts to combat the global crisis.
The country aborted more than 200 irregular migration and human trafficking networks
