Spanish police were a bit surprised when they checked out the luggage of an Ivory Coast woman trying to come into the country from North Africa at a border crossing between Morocco and Spain. They were suspicious because the 19-year-old woman appeared nervous and decided to x-ray her bag. The 8-year-old boy, Abou, was described as in a “terrible state” when he was let out of the bag. It brings a chilling meaning to the old Samonsite slogan: “If you traveled the way your luggage does, would you look as good as Samsonite?”
The boy is now being attended to in Cueta, Spain while the woman and father is now in prison. It turns out that both parents had residence rights in Spain but the boy did not — hence the added carry on approach.
The woman was not his mother but a courier paid by a smuggler.
The priority should be the identification and arrest of the smuggler who could have easily killed this boy with this approach. What is equally striking is that the father did not even accompany the boy and left him in the hands of a smuggler and unknown woman. The idea of returning Abou to the father is pretty frightening despite the fact that the father is demanding to be reunited with his son. At a minimum, all residence rights in Spain should be terminated for the parents. Ironically, if the father and mother are found to be unsuited to retake custody (and no relatives located), the boy might be able to remain in Spain while the parents are forced back to Morocco. However, in the end, he is most likely to be reunited with some family members in Morocco.
Toddlers might fit in those bins. That would be about it.
Don’t tell airliner executives of this. They might realize they can now stuff extra passengers into the overhead luggage bins.
The smuggler did not decide to X-ray her bag; airport security did because she seemed nervous. And they do not use the same X-ray settings on luggage that they use on people. So he was irradiated and probably now has claustrophobia.
We see similar instances all the time here in CA where smugglers called coyotes and human traffickers get people across our porous border. Sometimes they cram them in overheated trucks and not everyone makes it. There are too many kids who get handed over to smugglers and never make it. That’s the dirty secret of the Dream Act – all the kids who die because of its attractant.
I find it interesting that Professor Turley recommends harsh punishment on this attempt to smuggle in a child. I wonder if he holds the same view on similar practices across our own border. Would he also support revoking residency for those who smuggle illegal aliens here? Did he find it indeed striking that the father did not accompany his child? Well, we had over 65,000 unaccompanied children cross the border just last year alone, thanks to the Liberal Dream Act and other de facto amnesty policies. Those are the ones we caught and who actually made it alive.
Fog, In one respect I agree. But, humor is also used to deal w/ unpleasant thoughts. It is an escape mechanism that can be healthy. Having investigated abusive parents, I get your point and respect your indignation.
I don’t see how anyone can read this story and respond with light and humorous comments.
GL
bam, LOL! I KNOW JT appreciated your comment as well.
Perhaps it would’ve been less helicopterish like to just send him parcel post.
Looks like the kid had more legroom than I usually get on a plane. Did he at least get peanuts?
LOL!! PaulS w/ the thread winner!
And yesterday we were complaining about a 5 year old walking home alone. These are clearly not helicopter parents.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. I don’t understand why she decided to x ray the luggage if she knew the kid was in there. The charges should be endangering the life of a child and she should be put away in jail for that. Morocco is one of those places where the humans eat dogs so what do you expect? Whose colony was Morocco? Spains? That explains it. How strong was the xray? Brain damage? Whose fault is that? Why don’t they just open the darn bag? Lazy? At what border? There is no border between Spain and Morocco. Airport maybe? Seaport?