The Government Delegation in Melilla has hosted a second working meeting this morning, once the administrative process for the relocation of the first unaccompanied migrant minors has been completed following the declaration of immigration contingency.
After the Autonomous Communities of destination have been assigned, the first transfers that, in coordination with the Government of the Autonomous City, are expected to be carried out during the next week have been addressed.
The Government Delegate has positively valued this joint work space, stressing that the objective is “to advance the protection of minors, ensuring that these children receive a dignified and humanitarian reception”. To this end, he said that “we will closely follow the procedures to ensure the protection of the best interests of these children.”
In recent weeks, many meetings have been held on the management, coordination and follow-up of the dossiers and the work carried out by the Government Delegation with the different actors involved. Thus, it has been agreed to establish a system of weekly follow-up of cases and periodic meetings, in order to strengthen collaboration and provide an effective response to any situation of migratory contingency that may occur, all linked to the best interests of the child.
The meeting, chaired by the Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, was attended by the Director of the Work and Immigration Area of the Delegation, Elena Nieto Delgado. In addition, the heads of the Superior Police Headquarters, the Civil Guard Command, and the General Directorate of Minors and the Family of the Autonomous City have been present.
With this meeting, the Government of Spain reinforces its commitment to the protection of migrant children and to institutional cooperation as a way to guarantee the rights of all children who arrive in Melilla in a situation of special vulnerability.
Procedure for the relocation
Royal Decree Law 2/2025, amending Article 35 of the Aliens Act, and Royal Decree 658/2025, of 22 July, regulating the measures to be adopted in situations of extraordinary migratory contingency for the protection of the best interests of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, establishes two mechanisms for the relocation of these minors.
On the one hand, for children arriving after the declaration of the immigration contingency, with an administrative period of 15 days. And, on the other hand, for those who were already in the border territories before the immigration contingency was declared, with an administrative period of four months.
As explained by the Delegate, the two mechanisms for the relocation of minors are exposed, the first, in article 5 of the aforementioned Royal Decree 658/2025, which establishes the procedure for the relocation and transfer of minors in the framework of an extraordinary migratory contingency situation; while the second mechanism is governed by the provisions of the first additional provision, which determines the procedure for the relocation and transfer of minors who were in the protection systems of the autonomous communities before the declaration of the situation of extraordinary migratory contingency.