Clavijo insists that work is being done with Morocco and Senegal to return the children | Meanwhile, Torres criticizes the proposals from the PP and CC
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, during a visit to El Hierro on Thursday, dismissed the proposals put forward by the Canary Islands government (CC-PP) to reduce the number of unaccompanied minors under the care of the autonomous community, calling them unfeasible. Torres was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi España, and the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, along with El Hierro’s island council president, Alpidio Armas.
One of the options, mainly advocated by the People’s Party (PP), was to send migrant minors to other European Union (EU) countries. “We are talking about minors who have applied for asylum, which is a small percentage in the Canary Islands,” Torres pointed out, adding that this solution “depends on the willingness of EU member states.” Moreover, the much-discussed letter from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen referred to an asylum and migration pact “that will come into effect in the summer of 2026,” and President Pedro Sánchez has requested to move the implementation date to 2025 during the migration debate. But, as Torres emphasized, “we are currently in 2024, and the situation is an emergency.” Therefore, “what the PP proposes does not solve” the issue of minors in the Canary Islands, he said.
The other possibility defended by the PP is sending the minors to third countries, the so-called “Meloni method,” according to Torres. He pointed out that “minors do not go to those centers in Albania, nor do women. It’s a detention center. They cannot leave, they do not have freedom, and those who enter are detained for 28 days. This is not the best mechanism for anyone, especially not for unaccompanied minors, for children. Therefore, that approach is not a viable solution either.”
