The Government announced this Thursday that it is finalizing, together with the Canary Islands Executive, an agreement that will allow unblocking the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors throughout the autonomous communities.
The legislation delegates the guardianship of minors (migrants or not) to the autonomous communities and in each migratory surge some territories, such as Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands isolated from the Peninsula, endure much more pressure than others.
In the case of the islands, the spikes in arrivals in 2020, 2021 and 2023 have forced an unprecedented situation with more than 5,500 minors taken in.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, the socialist Ángel Víctor Torres, who is also responsible for the Interministerial Commission on Migration, met in Madrid this Thursday with his successor in the presidency of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (Canary Coalition).
As explained by ministry sources at the end of the meeting, the agreement between both parties involves the modification of article 35 of the Immigration Law, which regulates the management of unaccompanied minors.
Both parties have highlighted that this is a principle of agreement to facilitate a “binding and supportive distribution” of these minors, a point that the Canarian Coalition included as a requirement to say yes to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as president.
It will now be the turn of the technical teams of both executives to close the final text.
After the meeting, Minister Torres requested the involvement of all political parties because, "in any case, this modification has to be approved in Congress and must be with the greatest possible consensus."
“The meeting has been positive,” said Fernando Clavijo, who explained at the end that he expects the legal services of the ministry and the autonomous community to have a document “within a week, ten days.”
It will be with this text that the “fastest and most legally secure” tool will be sought and the support of the different political groups will be obtained.
“The Government of Spain is aware of the need to solve this problem, which is important and must be valued because there has never been that will before.
We are all aware that this has to be done quickly and quickly, because we have to guarantee the right of these boys and girls, and the sooner the better.”
Once a final agreement has been agreed, it will be taken to the Interministerial Migration Commission.
The islands have repeatedly requested the help of the central government and the rest of the communities in the management of minors.
Solidarity, so far, has not finished working: in October, the remaining communities agreed to receive 360 minors from the Canary Islands (in addition 36 from Ceuta), and almost five months later, no minor has left the islands.
For this reason, the Canary Islands have demanded that this distribution be done legally.
With this objective, in January it sent a proposal to the central Executive to achieve this
mandatory solidarity
in the distribution of these minors.
The document included the creation of a new entity, which would depend on the Ministries of Migration and Social Affairs, which would be obliged to make a “solidarity and proportional” distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors who arrive in Spain, regardless of their point of entry. .
To achieve this distribution, the archipelago offered two routes: a faster one, which contemplated the reform of the Civil Code, and another “more burdensome, complex and slow” that would require the modification of two organic laws and a royal decree (specifically the Law of Immigration, the Immigration Regulation and the Child Protection Law).
Madrid made a counteroffer to the regional government that did not convince either, and that led to this Wednesday's meeting.
Sources from the Ministry of Youth and Children, for their part, have reported that the Sectoral Commission for Youth and Children will approve next week an allocation of 25 million euros for the management of migrant children and adolescents from the Canary Islands.
"Work continues on coordination with the autonomous communities and autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla to strengthen and streamline the Migration Contingency Management Model for migrant children and adolescents," the department said in a statement.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_