Many of the immigrants that are landed in Motril Port declare themselves as unaccompanied minors, and as they have no ID, it is difficult to prove otherwise.

The police have to use other means to establish their approximate age, such as osteometry (skeletal age).

In total, 1,115 immigrants claimed to be minors during 2018 and the number of unaccompanied minors has never been so high.

To give you an idea, during 2017 there were 569 cases in 2016 there were 327 and in 2015 there were only 129.

Well, of those 1,115 immigrants who claimed to be minors, 747 turned out to be young adults according to their osteometric results.

The reason that adults are trying to pass themselves off as minors travelling alone is that they  are automatically taken into care by the Junta de Andalucía, whereas adults face eventual expulsion from the country.

Furthermore, the arrival of more and more ‘minors’ is outstripping the capacity of the relevant administrations to deal with them. This is already happening in Navarra, Tarragona, Huelva, Barcelona, Girona, Gipuzkoa, Mallorca, Asturias, Murcia, Zaragoza, Granada, Cádiz, Sevilla, Cantabria, Madrid, Valencia, Jaén and Almería.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)