The delegate of the Government in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, regrets that the Government of the Canary Islands sent files for the transfer of minors to the Peninsula of elderly people, as has been the case of the young man arrived on the coast of Lanzarote and that he was going to become the first foreign unaccompanied minor to be relocated to another autonomous community after the declaration of the situation of migratory contingency in the Islands.
“We do not understand why the Regional Executive sent us this file when it appears that the young man said when he arrived that he is of legal age. And this is not the first time it has happened because there have been eight dossiers sent to us by the Autonomous Community of people who were already of age”, said Anselmo Pestana, who has insisted on the commitment of the Government Delegation in the good progress of the referral of minors who arrive alone in the Archipelago.
“The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, is mistaken as an adversary, as an enemy, throughout this process, because what we want both the Government of Spain and, I understand, that of the Canary Islands is that minors who exceed the capacity of the child care service in the Islands be transferred to other autonomous communities and that they assume their guardianship.”
“To do this, we have approved a law, a milestone, and decrees to articulate that mechanism and we have begun the first dossiers. The first one has finally failed because the Attorney General’s Office, who has the powers, has declared that he is of legal age,” said Anselmo Pestana. “These things are going to happen, in the thousands of dossiers that we are going to have to process in this Government Delegation but I want the President of the Canary Islands to know that he has an ally here, the Delegation, to take these dossiers forward.”
The government delegate in the Canary Islands has assured that “there is a certain hysteria in the statements of President Clavijo when he knows that he has that commitment on our part. The opponents are in the Popular Party; they are sitting on its Governing Council because it is the PP that presents allegations to each transfer file in the autonomous communities in which it governs.”
“Mistakes we can all make. But not in this case on our part, because the Autonomous Community itself detected the error and also sent us the file when it appears that the young man stated in the interview to be of legal age. We cannot understand how they send us this file, which is not the first because there have been eight files sent to us by the regional executive of people who were already of age.”
According to Anselmo Pestana, “knowing that the procedure can last up to four months, there are also more than 30 juvenile files, which are going to turn 18 in the coming weeks.” “This makes no sense when there are thousands of younger boys and girls and it would be logical to prioritize them,” he said.
Likewise, the government delegate wanted to focus also on the more than 900 files that never received a response from the regional executive to be able to document minors who had arrived in the Canary Islands: “Many of these people will have reached the age of majority and are now on the street without documentation, forcing them into poverty without the documents that would allow them to stay and work in our country.”
“From mistakes, few lessons on that, what we do want is loyal collaboration between the two institutions. We are going to help the Autonomous Community throughout this process, our officials are committed to ensuring that these children can have a better life, and in that commitment we are going to be. With loyalty, but also with the truth ahead,” concluded Anselmo Pestana.
After confirming the age of majority of the young person who arrived on the coast of Lanzarote, he will be transferred to a migrant care center for adults in charge of the State.