The Balearic Islands demand that the Government recognize and control the Algerian migration route.

The massive arrival of small boats in the Balearic Islands this week has fueled the clash between Prime Minister Marga Prohens and the government of Pedro Sánchez over the central government's immigration policy. This clash has been very intense since the announcement of the distribution of unaccompanied minors in the Canary Islands. In just three days, the Balearic Islands have recorded the arrival of 639 migrants aboard 38 boats, and the number of arrivals is approaching 4,500 so far this year. This is an increase of 170% compared to the figures for 2024 and more than 500% compared to 2023, according to official data from the Government Delegation in the Balearic Islands.

Amid the clash over the migration issue between the PP and PSOE, the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, reiterated yesterday that with this migratory pressure on the islands, the archipelago is not in a position to accommodate minors from the Canary Islands. The forecast is for 49 to arrive by the end of this month, but the president insists she lacks the capacity or means to care for them. Prohens asserted that she will do everything in her power to prevent this, despite the fact that Sánchez himself warned her during a recent visit to the islands that not complying with the law has consequences. What consequences? That is something the head of the government did not elaborate on.

The Formentera Island Council asks Prohens to take charge of the custody of minors on its island

The president did acknowledge in Palma, after his summer audience with the King at the Marivent Palace, that pressure has increased in the Balearic Islands, something that Prohens believes is not enough: "The Spanish government cannot continue to look the other way; it has the powers, resources, and responsibility to stop the illegal immigration route to our islands. It cannot abandon the Balearic Islands once again."

The Balearic Islands are one of the autonomous communities governed by the People's Party (PP) party that has decided to take the issue of distributing minors from the Canary Islands to the Constitutional Court, believing that its powers in this area are being encroached upon. However, this decision could backfire, as the government representative in the islands has already warned. Alfonso Rodríguez warned Prohens that the increase in migrant arrivals could end up placing the Balearic Islands within the quota of communities from which minors will be sent to other territories, rather than the other way around. Rodríguez emphasized to the Balearic president the apparent paradox of legally challenging a law that could ultimately benefit the islands.

The central government is refusing to acknowledge the existence of a migratory route from Algeria. Rodríguez acknowledged yesterday that the route between Algeria and the southern Balearic Islands is the one under greatest pressure in this entire Mediterranean area, stretching from the coast of Morocco to Algeria.

Temporary facilities in ports

Government Delegate Alfonso Rodríguez has announced that the Executive plans to build modular facilities in the ports of Palma, Ibiza, and Formentera to care for, in decent conditions, migrants who arrive but only stay on the islands for 24 to 48 hours before taking ferries to the mainland. While waiting for these facilities to be operational, likely before the end of the year, the Port Authority has set up one of Palma's maritime stations for migrants to rest. A temporary module has also been installed in the port of Ibiza. With temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, before this space was opened, migrants would gather inside a nearby shopping center and spend the night in the open air at the port.

The government delegate stated that the recent wave represents one of the largest peaks yet and emphasized that it represents a challenge for the institutions, as the forecast is for more arrivals from Algeria while migration from Mauritania to the Canary Islands decreases. Most of those arriving on small boats do not stay in the archipelago, but take a boat to Barcelona or Valencia, depending on whether they are arriving in Mallorca or Ibiza and Formentera.

The problem for the islands lies not so much in the migrants as a whole, but in the minors who arrive alone, since they remain under the guardianship of the autonomous community. In the case of the Balearic Islands, there is the added circumstance that this responsibility has been transferred to the island councils. Formentera has approximately 150 children in care, including recent arrivals, and their situation is so desperate that it has asked for this responsibility to be returned to the Balearic government, claiming it cannot afford the nine million euros it will cost to address this problem when its total budget for 2025 is 45 million. The Consell de Mallorca has 430 minors under its care, which means that the reception facilities are already 1,100% overwhelmed, according to the institution. This means that all of Mallorca, with more than 900,000 inhabitants, has 39 places for minors.