Mallorca opposes transfers of child migrants from Ceuta

Mallorca opposes the transfer of unaccompanied child migrants who arrived in Ceuta, Guillermo Sánchez, the social welfare councillor at the Consell de Mallorca and president of the Mallorca Institute of Social Affairs, said in Palma, Mallorca, on 23 August. He said the Spanish government should first establish each young person’s family circumstances and assess whether reunion with relatives in their country of origin is possible.

Sánchez said Mallorca’s child-protection system was already under strain. The Consell de Mallorca is responsible for 448 unaccompanied foreign minors, who account for two out of every three children and teenagers in the island authority’s care.

Call for family assessments before relocation

Sánchez urged the government to seek reports from countries of origin on the family situation of every child before considering repatriation. In his view, transfers to other autonomous communities should not proceed while that assessment remains unresolved.

He said he supported the constitutional principle of solidarity between regions, but recalled that Youth and Children Minister Sira Rego had pledged during a visit to Mallorca that there would be no further transfers of minors to the Balearic Islands. Sánchez also criticised previous transfers from the Canary Islands, saying three of four young people sent to the Balearics had been close to adulthood and left the protection system within months.

All but two of the unaccompanied minors in the Consell’s care live in residential accommodation. Rules provide for about 40 dedicated migrant places, while most additional capacity has been created urgently as boats have reached the archipelago’s coast.

Son Tous expansion planned as stays lengthen

Pressure intensifies when boats bring several children at once, Sánchez said. On one weekend, 37 minors arrived, while 51 arrived during July.

The Son Tous first-reception facility, in part of a former military barracks beside the Balearic Islands’ only Temporary Foreigners’ Reception Centre, currently houses 26 young people. It was designed for a maximum of 16, and the Mallorca Institute of Social Affairs has begun procedures to create 15 more places in an unused part of the building.

Son Tous was intended as temporary accommodation before placements in ordinary centres, but overcrowding elsewhere means some minors remain there for months. Some have turned 18 without living anywhere other than the former barracks. Sánchez said the Consell de Mallorca had not found further premises for new centres and was also struggling to recruit qualified staff, adding that the state had provided neither funding nor infrastructure for their care.

Topics: Migration · Social affairs · Politics · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com