The reform of the Immigration Law, which aims to impose on the autonomous communities the reception of unaccompanied foreign minors in order to relieve the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, This Monday, its processing began in Congressbut with few signs of prosperity. This Monday, the PP presented a document with “inalienable” measures for the agreement, among which they demand more border controls or a state of emergency for the entire territory. Despite this initiative, sources from the party leadership privately admit that it is difficult to give the green light to the reform of the norm promoted by the central government and that of the Canary Islands, of which the PP is part: “Today we are very far from supportive. The government must take a big step, we will not be carried away.” At a forum in The reasonThe leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, denounced the “call effect” of the government reform and spoke again about the risk of an “avalanche”, going so far as to estimate the possible arrivals in the coming months at “70,000 more people”, a forecast that is difficult to calculate. For Feijóo, one of the problems with the text registered in Congress is that it only concerns the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, which is the priority expressed by the government, since, with the help of the island executive, it has considered the option of compulsory distribution of minor migrants.
Last week, at the Sectoral Conference on Children, the PP accepted a voluntary distribution of 347 minor migrants (not enough to mitigate the collapse of the Canary Islands), which led Vox to split its five autonomous governments. By sending a proposal by letter to the Ministry of Territorial Policy, the national leadership of the PP is also under pressure from several barons, who reject the reform. The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, described it this Monday as “a real joke.” His counterpart from the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, who governs in a minority after the split of Vox, has clearly stated that the PP cannot support this law, which is “frivolous, not serious and not rigorous.” And in this context, the legal reform will be discussed in Congress, where the support of the people is essential for the bill to be considered on July 23, during the last plenary session before the summer recess.
The PP letter begins with a warning: “If the government had a real sense of responsibility, it would take measures within its immigration powers to resolve the root cause of this immigration crisis.” And it adds: “Without a strong economic plan to invest in border control, which includes technical, technological and human resources, assistance to communities, cooperation policies with sending countries and repatriation of people in an irregular situation who have deportation files, the Popular Party will not support what is nothing more than a patch.” These are the conditions of the Popular:
Declaration of a state of immigration emergency for the entire national territory. The PP demands that the declaration of emergency extend beyond the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. The measure has a symbolic intention – “because of the figures that exist now, but also because of the forecasts for the coming months” – but also practical because with the state of emergency, as happened with the pandemic, direct and indirect rewards can be granted. be implemented urgently, which would guarantee the rapid deployment of facilities or recruitment. The provision of resources and the hiring of sufficient staff It is one of the concerns of the communities (not only of the PP) despite the hypothetical approval of this measure. The reform contemplates two types of derivations that, depending on the territory, leave little room for action. The main one is the one that aims to relieve the islands and consists of transferring, within twelve months, a sufficient number of minors (3,000 in the current situation), so that the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla do not exceed 150% of their capacity. . The second derivation implies that once any of these areas exceeds that 150%, the communities will have 15 days to accept the reception of each new minor who arrives, a small margin if they are not prepared to welcome them. In any case, each autonomous community has the power to declare a state of emergency to accelerate the procurement of works and services. Therefore, the PP's request suggests that it intends for the State to cover all the costs, despite this being a competence. be autonomous and that the reform already includes a specific provision to mobilise resources beyond the daily expenses of each minor.
However, Feijóo's statements – “so, if Valencia, which is beyond its capacity, or Murcia or Andalusia has the problems of the Canary Islands, do we change the organic law again?” the distribution, even though it is not explicitly stated in the letter. The government has not closed itself to this possibility after the approval of the reform, although it wonders how the reception capacity of a community like Valencia is calculated, which claims to be saturated with 1,000 minors while the Canary Islands receive 6,000.
That There is no doubt about the age of the minors transferred to the destination communities. The popular parties want to involve the Public Prosecutor in the distribution procedure, with a request that is almost identical to that of the ERC to approve the law. Both groups want to ensure that minors who leave the Canary Islands do so with a minority decree from the Public Prosecutor, the body that has jurisdiction in the procedure. The problem with this request is that The Public Prosecution Service is already saturated in this areain the Canary Islands and in the rest of the territories, and according to the communities it takes months to issue these certificates. The queue also depends on the resources available to the medical centres, since the decree requires a prior forensic examination and x-rays. The requirement could be applied in the main move which has a period of twelve months, but does not seem feasible in transfers that must take place in less than fifteen days.
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Presentation of a migration policy plan. In its letter, the PP demands a plan to “exercise with greater intensity and effectiveness its obligations regarding immigration in order to substantially reduce irregular entry.” It demands a strengthening of maritime border controls and more transit visas for travelers from countries that have used Spanish airports to make a stopover and request asylum. They also ask for “the necessary investments with the countries of origin.” It is a general request that interferes with the government’s internal and foreign policy. Government sources claim that everything the PP demands in this regard is already being implemented.
Financial obligation. The PP criticizes the lack of an economic report on the financing that will be allocated to this compulsory reception and confirms that it only refers to financing exclusively for the first year of reception “when the government should support it in its entirety during that time.” It is essential, they say, that there is “a financial commitment through a multiannual emergency fund.” The reform proposal provides for “sufficient financing as long as the minors maintain this condition.” Sources who participated in the preparation of this text believe that money “is not a problem”, but that the small print must be debated once it is approved.
Cover the reception until their emancipation. Here the PP again coincides with ERC, which claims that the Catalan reception system exists accompanies foreign minors who are of legal age (up to 21 years) and that this care must be included in its financing. The bill makes it clear on several occasions that the costs will be covered as long as “the status of minor is maintained.”
The government should enable the media and its direct management. The popular parties ask that it be explicitly stated that, once an autonomous community “exceeds the capacity of the installed resources, it will be up to the central government agencies to enable the resources and their direct management.” He states that imposing distribution, “without the means of reception existing,” makes it “impossible” for it to be “effective.” The problem here is that the responsibility for the guardianship and education of minors is regional and not state-specific.
No exceptions for Catalonia. Given the demands of Junts that Catalonia be left out of the distribution, the PP demands “guarantees” that reception will be mandatory for all communities, “without exception”. “It must be reflected so that it cannot be avoided later by transferring immigration powers to any community, as has been expressed in recent weeks.” The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, already stated in an interview with EL PAÍS that this alleged transfer is “legally and politically unacceptable and unviable.”