The State warns the People's Party that it will send security forces if their communities refuse to accept migrant minors.

BarcelonaThe Council of Ministers on Tuesday set the number of unaccompanied minors that each autonomous community must accept within the framework of the new legal regulations to address the arrival of refugees in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. The criteria are based on a decree law approved by Congress, and the Spanish government is already warning that, no matter how much fuss the PP presidents make, the transfers of the 3,900 minors pending distribution will soon be activated. In an interview on Spanish National Television (TVE) this Wednesday, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, expressed confidence that all autonomous communities will comply and assume guardianship of the minors they receive under the mandatory distribution. However, in the face of possible resistance, he issued a warning: "If any community were to oppose it, the security forces should logically intervene. But I have no doubt that the presidents will comply with the law," he added.

The Canary Islands government has also warned that the autonomous communities cannot refuse to accept refugees and that, if they do, the prosecutor's office will be the one to take the lead. In fact, the public prosecutor's office has been the one to take the lead in the Canary Islands. The legal battle to modify the protocol that the Canary Islands government initially approved to hinder reception, awaiting the legal amendment regarding distribution within the State. "We hope it doesn't come to this. We hope common sense prevails," stated the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who governs with the People's Party (PP), this Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Canary Islands government has already requested recourse to the so-called "contingency" mechanism in the archipelago, which allows for the activation of transfers when an autonomous community has seen its reception capacity exceeded three times—737, in the case of the Canary Islands.

The PP has been using the distribution of migrants for months. as a weapon against the Spanish government. In fact, this was the reason why Vox broke with the PP regional executives, whom it accused of not standing up to the State and being too soft on immigration. This Tuesday, the president of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, questioned the formula the State has used for the distribution—where the greatest weight is the population—and announced that they will challenge it before the Supreme Court and request its precautionary suspension, as will the Community of Madrid and Aragon.

"There are no professionals to care for them. Let the government decide where they should be accommodated, because there are no centers," he warned SER. This is how Prohens responded to the question of whether he plans to disobey: "I can't imagine the government being insistent in the face of this lack of humanity and sensitivity." This Wednesday, Torres replied that the "regrettable" thing is that the Balearic Islands didn't even send the certificates for the minors they had already taken in, as required by the Ministry of Children.

Catalonia, excluded from the current distribution

The Balearic Islands will have to take in 406 minors, far behind the regions that, according to what the Spanish government established yesterday, must take in the most unaccompanied minors. Andalusia (2,827), Catalonia (2,650), Madrid (2,325), and the Valencian Community (1,767) occupy the top positions on the list. However, both Catalonia and the Basque Country are left out of this batch of distribution of minors for the hosting effort they have already made so far, although the Generalitat had offered to host around thirty. The criterion derives from a previous agreement with Junts for approving the legal change to make the distribution mandatory.

The exclusion of Catalonia and the Basque Country from the current distribution has enraged Andalusia, where the PP also governs. In statements to Canal Sur Radio this Wednesday, the Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Sanz, criticized the "unrealistic" approach, which, in his opinion, is reflected in the figures agreed upon by the Spanish government. "Can anyone explain why Catalonia and the Basque Country don't have to deal with hosting migrant minors so they can have political agreements to keep their seats?" he asked.

But the PP executives in the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Madrid, and Aragon are not the only ones who have raised their voices against the distribution. While Murcia denounces "secrecy and lack of information," Carlos Mazón's government maintains that the Valencian region is already at "160%" of its capacity, and the Riojan government says it fears an "overwhelming" of its reception capacity. The scheme, however, has the approval of the Canary Islands.

Judicial offensive

This is not the first time the People's Party (PP) has challenged the distribution of migrants in court. A total of 10 autonomous communities have already appealed to the Constitutional Court against a first decree-law on the distribution, while the Community of Madrid alone took to the Supreme Court a second decree approved specifically to address the emergency in the Canary Islands. In a press conference on Wednesday, Ayuso's government spokesperson, Miguel Ángel García, explained that they have also urgently demanded from the State "the information used to prepare the forced distribution" that excludes the Basque Country and Catalonia, considering it "arbitrary, opaque, and discriminatory."

In the face of the PP's offensive, Minister Torres expressed confidence that the law will survive judicial scrutiny despite the numerous appeals filed by the PP, and noted that by delaying the reception, they are condemning these minors to live "overcrowded." "They should have equal conditions, like any other child fleeing war, as was the case with those from Ukraine, who were welcomed with open arms and provided with municipal facilities and buses. Why can't the same be done for children coming from Africa?" she asked.