Thousands of unaccompanied minors reach Europe every year, but those who end up on Spanish shores face bureaucratic hurdles and overcrowded centers once the system that took them in leaves them to fend for themselves
Souad Benkaddour, a Moroccan living in Madrid, has helped hundreds of Syrians as they pass through Spain to the promised land of northern Europe
He was the first Syrian national to seek asylum at the Melilla border station. A bureaucratic glitch saw him flee the country to seek refuge elsewhere in Europe, but he was sent back to Spain. Now, Khaled is a happy Madrid resident who holds a job and dreams of opening his own restaurant one day
Immigrants are at the center of an intense political debate in Europe. EL PAÍS is starting a series of feature articles to understand this phenomenon. The newspaper will be following a group of soccer players from Alma de África, a sports initiative in Andalusia to help undocumented migrants settle in Spain
