The Ministry of Youth and Childhood has once again called on the autonomous communities to advance in the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors on Monday, May 5th.
According to ministerial sources confirmed to Europa Press, the meeting will be chaired by the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, will start at 4:00 p.m., and will take place in the Boardroom of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.
This same meeting between the Government and the autonomous communities was initially scheduled to take place on Monday, April 28th, but was canceled due to the power outage that affected Spain.
The Congress of Deputies validated on April 10th the royal decree-law to distribute unaccompanied migrant minors. Specifically, it received 179 votes in favor (PSOE and allies), 170 against (PP and Vox), and one abstention from UPN. This agreement between the Government and Junts modifies Article 35 of the Immigration Law and establishes the criteria for the distribution of migrant minors among the autonomous communities.
The royal decree-law gives power to the Sectorial Conference to modify the referral criteria if approved unanimously. However, achieving this seems unlikely, as most of the autonomous communities governed by the PP have opposed the Government’s distribution of migrant minors, considering it an «infringement of autonomous competences.»
MADRID ASKS TO CANCEL THE MEETING AND ARAGÓN CHALLENGES IT
In this regard, the Minister of Family, Youth, and Social Affairs, Ana Dávila, expressed her rejection of the Sectorial Conference on Childhood and Adolescence on Friday, April 25th, and requested through a letter to Rego the cancellation of the meeting. «It is us who have the competence to protect the rights of minors. Especially when it comes to caring for them in a state of abandonment, the worst situation a child can find themselves in,» she stated.
On the other hand, the Government of Aragón has decided to take the convocation of the Sectorial Conference on Childhood and Adolescence to court with a new contentious-administrative appeal. In their opinion, the distribution of migrant minors favors the interests of Catalonia in this matter.
Last year, in July, the Congress rejected the consideration of the bill proposed by PSOE, Sumar, and CC to distribute migrant minors, with the votes against from PP, Vox, and Junts. Since then, the Government has been negotiating with parliamentary groups to find a solution for territories with overcrowding.
In line with this, the Interministerial Immigration Commission of the Government approved on April 8th the creation of a working group for the coordination and monitoring of the distribution of migrant minors among the autonomous communities.
The approved text amends Article 35 of the Immigration Law by adding four points. Article 35 bis establishes that the Sectorial 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 tripling its ordinary capacity will be in a situation of migratory contingency, which will be communicated 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, structural sizing of the bed system, or the condition of being a border city or island of each territory. These criteria can also be modified unanimously by the Sectorial 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 a situation of extraordinary migratory contingency, the transfer to the destination community must take place within 15 days from the completion of the minor’s registration.
FUENTE