The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (Canary Coalition), has changed his main interlocutor in his attempt to obtain the necessary support to transport the migrant minors arriving in the archipelago through the rest of Spain. If previously he asked the Popular Party to adhere to what had been negotiated with the central government, he has now opted for the counter-strategy. The Canarian leader has signed an agreement with the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, with the aim of unblocking the distribution of these children and adolescents, after it was precisely the popular party who reversed, with Junts and Vox, the reform of the Immigration Law, the way in which the regional and state governments defended the approval of the mandatory distribution system.
The Government of the Canary Islands supports several of the demands repeated by the Popular Party to justify its rejection of the reform of the Immigration Law that Clavijo intended to carry out last July with the State Government. Among them, the declaration of a migratory emergency throughout Spain, with the aim of facilitating public procurement related to the reception of migrants; the convening of the Conference of Presidents; the provision of “sufficient” funding to the autonomous communities to house migrant minors and an urgent appeal to the Sectoral Conference on Childhood to agree on the distribution criteria with all the autonomous communities.
The pact also includes a point that had so far been forcefully rejected by Clavijo in the previous negotiation process of the reform of the immigration law: the reference to the prior confirmation of the minority of children distributed among the autonomous communities. Until now, the president of the Canary Islands has always insisted that children and adolescents be transferred to the peninsula even if there were doubts about their age, while the communities governed by the PP insisted that the age of minors should not be questioned before proceeding with the transfer. distribution, so they should have undergone age determination tests beforehand if necessary. The island government opposed this due to the blockage existing in the archipelago regarding these medical examinations, which could delay the referral of children in an emergency, but after his meeting with Feijóo, he accepted the popular request.
Regarding the reform of the Immigration Law, the pact requires that the Executive take charge of the reception places that must be opened, not only within the framework of the new transfer mechanisms, but also to cover the “extraordinary” places. the autonomous communities should have opened since 2020. According to their approach, the State would finance the resources of the autonomous communities whose reception network is between 100% and 150%, “from their arrival until their emancipation”. This is one of the points that the central government described as “unaffordable” in the previous negotiation process, given that, according to its criteria, it could go beyond the powers established by the Constitution, since the care of minors in a situation of helplessness, whether Spanish or foreign, is up to the regional governments. The Central Executive defended the “sufficient” funding of all transfers and the subsequent reception of these minors, but was not responsible for the funding of the regular reception network because this was a regional competence.
The text adds that All communities, without exception, must welcome minorsYes within the framework of the compulsory distribution, in a clear nod to the request of Junts to exclude Catalonia from the distribution plans, something that was already contemplated in the draft law on immigration reform, which establishes that minors will be distributed among all the autonomous communities.
In addition to issues related to the distribution of minors, the agreement includes what the signatories have called the “Action Plan against the uncontrolled control of immigration”, which calls for measures related to border surveillance, such as increasing police control at the Spanish borders; requiring a “transit passport” for certain nationalities for whom this document is not yet required, in order to hinder asylum applications at Spanish airports; and providing more human and material resources to the General Commission on Immigration. The PP and the Canarian government include initiatives that already exist today, such as sending Spanish security forces to countries of origin and transit; and the collaboration of Frontex.
This plan also includes “the review of information flows between the different regional and national services.” According to the text, “the Government must ensure that there is constant and continuous monitoring of any person arriving irregularly, so that the regional services are informed and, in turn, improve their interaction with the asylum services, the judiciary.” and the services responsible for compliance with return orders. Although it does not specify what type of information it refers to, on other occasions this type of proposal, which aims to send information between public administrations, in reference to the irregular population that uses the regional services, has generated controversy and sometimes contradicts data protection legislation.
After the meeting, Clavijo thanked Feijóo for “uniting the criteria of 12 communities and two autonomous cities (all PP) because we can take a giant step, and not only because he talks about minors, but about migration in general.” According to him, it is now necessary to see “the will of the central government to end the political fight and provide an answer to these children who are looking for a better life.”
After Clavijo, Feijóo thanked the Government of the Canary Islands and praised in particular “the sensitivity, responsibility and sense of the State of Clavijo with the working groups, with migration and, specifically, with unaccompanied minors.” According to him, the important thing in the signed pact is that it addresses not only the situation of minors, but also the “global challenge that migration represents,” which deserves “a global policy in the face of the wave of illegal migrants that arrive, especially on the Canary Islands route,” reports Álvaro Morales.
