Bill would distribute unaccompanied migrant children among Spanish regions

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would declare an extraordinary migration contingency in regions or autonomous cities whose child protection system exceeds three times its ordinary capacity. The declaration would be approved within five calendar days of the region's notification.
2. If the Sectoral Conference on Children and Adolescents does not reach a unanimous agreement, the State would set objective criteria for distributing children: half based on each territory's population, 13% based on its disposable income, 15% based on unemployment, and other shares based on reception effort, available places, border or island status, and population dispersion.
3. The bill would require the child's transfer to the destination region within fifteen calendar days of registration in the Register of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors. The child and the destination region would be heard, and the Public Prosecutor would be informed.
4. A Fund would be created under the ministry in charge of childhood to compensate regions for the costs of overcrowding or transfers of children. For 2025, an extraordinary credit of €100 million is provided.
5. Organizations and people working with these children would have to report their location to the authorities. Failing to do so would become a new infraction.
6. The criteria for applying the solidarity response plan would have to be approved within three months of the law taking effect, and the necessary relocations would have to be carried out within one year.

Who it affects

• Unaccompanied foreign minors: Unaccompanied foreign minors, who could be transferred to another region or autonomous city and would receive a certificate with their register data.
• Autonomous communities and cities: They would have to take in redistributed children, assume guardianship and care, and could receive financial compensation for overcrowding.
• General State Administration: It would declare the extraordinary migration contingency, decide where children are placed, and manage the compensation Fund.
• Public Prosecutor (Ministerio Fiscal): It would be guaranteed involvement in transfer and placement decisions.
• Organizations and people who care for these children: They would have to report the location of unaccompanied foreign minors to the authorities.

Words worth knowing

Menor extranjero no acompañado

A minor of another nationality who is in Spain without their parents or a responsible adult.

Contingencia migratoria extraordinaria

An exceptional situation of mass arrival of migrant children that overwhelms a territory's reception capacity.

Tutela

Legal responsibility to care for a minor and make decisions for them when their parents cannot.

Conferencia Sectorial de Infancia y Adolescencia

Body where the State and the autonomous regions meet to agree on childhood matters.

Real decreto-ley

A rule with the force of law that the Government can pass urgently; afterwards Congress must validate it or process it as a bill.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries