On Monday, all 17 autonomous communities and two city councils convened with the Ministry of Youth and Childhood to discuss the process for relocating thousands of unaccompanied foreign minors currently housed predominantly in the Canary Islands and Ceuta.

During this meeting, representatives from Madrid, Castilla y León, Galicia, Andalucía, and the Socialist Party in Castilla-La Mancha expressed their opposition to the proposed plan, which did not reach a vote due to the decision of Minister Sira Rego's team.

These regions, aligned with the Popular Party (PP), have announced their intention to explore potential legal actions aimed at declaring the extraordinary meeting null and void, criticizing it as "illegal," "arbitrary," and "forced" due to the lack of a formal vote, which they believe would have allowed for a documented expression of dissent.

Some regions are currently pursuing actions before the Constitutional Court seeking to have the relocation measure declared unconstitutional.

This meeting was seen as a critical opportunity for regional administrations to propose amendments to the Royal Decree governing the transfer of 4,400 immigrant children from the Canary archipelago and Ceuta to the Spanish mainland.

However, with no consensus reached for altering any points, the existing plan established by the ministry will proceed.

The plan was approved by the Council of Ministers and subsequently validated by the Congress of Deputies on April 10.

Minister Sira Rego defended the meeting's structure, explaining that no plebiscite was warranted as the existing plan had already received the backing of Parliament.

According to governmental sources, the ministry anticipates initiating the transfer process for minors in June, coinciding with the end of the academic year to minimize disruption to their education.

However, sources indicate that the transfer process will not be swift, as the regions of origin and destination must determine the specific procedures for the transfer of guardianship, adhering to existing legislation that limits the ministry's direct involvement.

The criteria for selecting which regions have exceeded their reception capacity will rely on data on the number of minors each community currently cares for.

Most communities provided this information, with the exception of Aragon, which did not supply data, and other regions such as Madrid, Valencia, and Extremadura, which provided partial or incomplete information.

In these cases, the ministry will refer to the most recent statistics available as of December 31, 2023.

The proposal tabled at the interterritorial summit allows any regional government to request the central government to declare a state of migratory contingency if their occupancy exceeds three times their normal capacity.

Once declared, any unaccompanied foreign minor located in that area will automatically be registered by the Ministry of the Interior.

The criteria for determining which autonomous community is best equipped to accommodate children and adolescents include population (50%), per capita income (13%), unemployment rate (15%), reception effort (6%), system size (10%), population dispersion (2%), and unique characteristics of border cities (2%) and insular regions (2%).

Once registered, minors will be relocated to another region within 15 days, irrespective of their certified age, following the established criteria, provided that both the minor and the receiving community have been consulted and the information communicated to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Following the meeting, Candelaria Delgado, Minister of Social Welfare for the Canary Islands, criticized the outcome as a "step backward" in the distribution of immigrant minors, claiming the ministry did not allow for a discussion on the proposed plan.

She expressed skepticism regarding Rego's announcement of a future meeting in two months to deliberate on including additional criteria beyond those currently outlined in the Royal Decree, stating, "We have made no progress."

Additionally, Minister Rego announced that she would send a formal request to the autonomous communities, allowing them ten days to provide updated numbers on unaccompanied migrant minors in their reception systems.

This data will be used to organize a "solidary and binding" distribution across the country based on the criteria established in the Royal Decree, which amends Article 35 of the Immigration Law.