The Plenary Session of the Congress of Deputies will debate this Thursday, April 10, the royal decree-law that reforms article 35 of the Immigration Law in order to establish the mandatory distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors among the autonomous communities when there is saturation. This is the result of an agreement between the Government and Junts and has been met with rejection from the regions governed by the PP.
Specifically, this is the royal decree-law approving urgent measures for the guarantee of the best interests of children and adolescents in situations of extraordinary migratory contingencies. It amends article 35 of the Immigration Law and establishes criteria for the distribution of migrant minors among the autonomous communities.
The Government has ensured in the additional provisions of the decree the financial sufficiency with a fund attached to the Ministry of Youth and Childhood, for which there will be an extraordinary credit of 100 million euros in 2025.
The approved text amends article 35 of the Immigration Law by adding four points. Article 35 bis establishes that the Sectoral Conference on Childhood and Adolescence maintains its full autonomy and can make its own decisions if agreed unanimously. This point also indicates that the community with a presence of unaccompanied foreign minors that triples its ordinary capacity will be in a situation of migratory contingency, which will be transferred to the Government to activate relocation mechanisms.
Article 35 ter establishes a series of criteria for the distribution of minors, such as population, per capita income, unemployment rate, previous efforts, the structural capacity of the places system, or the condition of being a border city or island territory. These criteria can also be modified unanimously by the Sectoral Conference on Childhood and Adolescence.
The legislative amendment regulates, in article 35 quater, how the registration of the unaccompanied minor should be carried out. Thus, when a minor arrives in a community and it is in an extraordinary migratory contingency situation, the transfer to the destination community must take place within 15 days of completing the minor’s registration.
In order to understand the situation of the reception system, the Ministry of Youth and Childhood requested the autonomous communities to provide the number of unaccompanied migrant minors they are currently assisting before March 31. The Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, has given Aragon until this Thursday to send more precise information – which has not sent any data -, and Madrid and Extremadura – which, according to the Government, have sent generic data. If not, the Government warns that it will use the latest known data, from 2023, to calculate the distribution, which placed Madrid as the region that would receive the most minors, over 800.
Regions Governed by the PP Believe it "Invades Regional Competences"
On the other hand, most of the regions governed by the PP have shown willingness to challenge the distribution of migrant minors by the Government, considering it "invades regional competences." In this regard, Aragon announced that it had filed an administrative contentious appeal against the Ministry of Childhood and Youth’s request. Cantabria has also authorized the General Directorate of Legal Services to file a constitutional appeal before the Constitutional Court against the royal decree-law, as have Castilla y León and Andalusia.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Presidency, Justice, and Local Administration of the Community of Madrid, Miguel Ángel García Martín, announced on Monday that the regional Government would file a recourse with the Constitutional Court in the coming hours against the distribution of unaccompanied minors. On the same day, the Department of Families and Social Affairs of the Balearic Islands also announced that it would appeal.
Similarly, the Valencian Community has authorized the initiation of procedures to file a constitutional appeal against the royal decree-law. In its case, it considers that it "represents a clear interference in the competences of the Valencian Community in the protection of minors over which it has exclusive competences."
Last year, in July, the Congress rejected the consideration of the draft law registered by the PSOE, Sumar, and CC to distribute migrant minors, with the votes against from the PP, Vox, and Junts. Since then, the Government has been negotiating with parliamentary groups to find a solution to regions with overcrowding.
In line with this, the Government’s Interministerial Immigration Commission approved on April 8 the creation of a working group for the coordination and monitoring of the distribution of migrant minors among the autonomous communities.
On the other hand, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, stated on Wednesday in Santiago de Compostela that he trusts that the Congress will validate this Thursday the royal decree-law for the distribution of migrant minors, which he has defined as a "structural, historical, and unprecedented" response.
The current vote to distribute foreign minors will take place after the Supreme Court gave the Government ten days to take charge of a thousand migrant minors in the Canary Islands who have applied for asylum. Torres pointed out on Wednesday that the deadline has not yet been met.
"Logically, it was ten days once the Spanish Government was notified," the minister said, adding that "in no case is custody in question."
Withdrawal of Appeal and Reception of 1,000 Minors
The central and Canary Island governments agreed on Thursday to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling and organize the transfer of a total of 1,008 migrant minors seeking asylum from the Canary Islands to the state reception network. The Government had initially appealed the Supreme Court’s ruling, but eventually withdrew the appeal after a "productive" meeting with the Canary Islands, as explained by the Minister of Presidency, Felix Bolaños, last Friday.
In statements to journalists after a ministerial meeting held in Tenerife, both the Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, and the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, agreed to analyze the situation of these minors on a case-by-case basis given the different circumstances.