Spain interior minister: child migrants ‘wanted to go home’

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s interior minister says that unaccompanied child migrants being sent back to Morocco in groups of 15 at a time wanted to go home. He has denied accusations by rights groups of breaking international law. Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told the Cadena SER radio station Monday that the return of the children from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta was not an expulsion. Spain is legally obliged to care for young migrants until their relatives can be located or until they turn 18. Grande-Marlaska referred to a 2007 agreement between Spain and Morocco for assisted returns once children’s cases had been considered. He says vulnerable minors were not among those sent back.