Green Light for the Distribution of Unjoined Minors Sought by Moncloa After the Agreement With Junts

The Government is finalizing the details to imminently announce a parliamentary agreement. This will allow the redistribution of 4,400 unjoined minors currently under guardianship in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. The ruling coalition will be able to give the green light to this pact reached weeks ago with the Canary Islands Executive, after accepting Junts's demand.

This grants the pro-independence party the "comprehensive delegation" of powers in migration matters. Thus, it won't be necessary to have the support of the People's Party. Although most of its autonomous communities have opposed the proposal because it excludes Catalonia from this distribution.

After a year of negotiations marked by differences and disagreements, this is a new approach to Puigdemont's formation. This will allow the Executive to secure the votes of its seven pro-independence deputies to approve this exceptional distribution of minors.

However, both Junts and ERC have conditioned their support on Catalonia not being part of this reception scheme. For this, they have argued that the community "has already made a considerable effort" in this area. According to government sources, this is the main reason why Catalonia will be left out of the distribution.

Although the central Government seeks to present the measure in a way that doesn't generate controversy.

Meanwhile, this situation has caused discomfort in the environment of the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo. So far, no representative of the state Executive has contacted him to clarify how the solution will be implemented. One that, let's remember, will be temporary, proposed by PSOE and Sumar to alleviate the migratory pressure in the archipelago.

Faced with the saturation of reception centers, which operate at 123% capacity by housing approximately 5,860 minors. The Canary Islands Government decided two weeks ago to extend the emergency declaration that had already been activated in August 2023.

This measure aims to expedite administrative procedures and ensure the continuity of spaces enabled to care for unjoined minors who continue to arrive on the coasts.

The Canary Islands Executive has expressed concern about the lack of response from the central Government. All regarding the transfer of 4,400 minors to other autonomous communities, which prolongs a migratory crisis that still lacks a definitive solution.

Spain Overwhelmed: Record of Illegal Immigrants in 2024

Last year, Spain recorded the arrival of 64,461 illegal immigrants, according to internal FRONTEX data. The Ministry of the Interior, however, counted 63,970 entries, showing a difference of almost 500 immigrants.

The figures show that the vast majority of illegal immigrants were adult men. Additionally, one-third came from areas of high Islamic radicalization and another third from the Maghreb.

There was also the arrival of immigrants from Pakistan and Syria, countries traditionally associated with other migratory routes.

86.58% of the immigrants who arrived in Spain in 2024 were adult men. This equates to 36,173 men out of a total of 41,782 who entered through the Canary Islands, the main entry point.

Adult women represented only 6.08% of those who arrived, which equates to 2,540 people. Minors made up 7.34% (about 3,067), with a male predominance of 90% within this group.