Young Immigrants in Spain

Throughout Europe there has been an increase in the arrival rates of young migrants in the past couple of years. In Spain as of the 31st of December 2020, there were 9,030 unaccompanied minors who immigrated. The autonomous community of Andalusia has the largest number (2,507) of unaccompanied minors.  Immigrants who arrive in Spain as unaccompanied minors are placed under guardianship or in foster care. The autonomous communities with the next largest number of unaccompanied minors are the Canary Islands and Catalonia, with 1,849 and 1,168 minors respectively. These immigrants are young people under the age of 18, who originate from non-EU member countries, and who arrived alone without a legal guardian. Most of the immigrants are from Morocco or other countries in the north of Africa. 97% of the unaccompanied minors are boys between the ages of 16 and 17.

In 2021 the Government of Catalonia reported there were 3,288 unaccompanied minors in the care of the Child and Adolescent Protection System of Catalonia. Out of this total a third of them, 1,268, arrived in Catalonia in 2021. This is not surprising as there has been an upward trend in immigration for the past couple of years. The peak of immigration, however, was in 2018 when 637 unaccompanied minors arrived in Cataluna. There was then a decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many countries closed their borders and had stricter policies for entrance into their countries. 

First-generation rights are rights that could contain the right to life, liberty, security, freedom of religion, and the right to participate in government. First-generation rights could also be called negative rights as they require no government intervention. On the other hand, second-generation rights contain the right to work under safe conditions, the right to education, the right to adequate health care, and the right to a good standard of living... On the contrary to first-generation rights, these rights are often referred to as positive rights as they do need government action. When looking at both these types of rights for immigration, it is evident that first-generation rights are important for immigrants as they allow them to incorporate themselves into the new society and contribute to it economically and culturally. Second-generation rights are important when looking at the rights of immigrant children as second-generation rights are what allow them to have the same opportunities as local children.