The Government of the Canary Islands has announced that it has reached an agreement with the central executive to extend the term from six to twelve months so that migrants formerly under the guardianship of the autonomous community who were wrongly classified as minors can be welcomed into the state network.
According to the Management Manual of the Humanitarian Care Program, in force since July 7, migrants who were considered minors and housed as such in centers of the autonomous community but who have later been reclassified as adults, cannot be welcomed into the state network if more than six months have passed since their arrival on the islands.
After the negotiations of the Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, with the Secretary of State for Migration, Pilar Cancela, this term has been exceptionally increased to twelve months for the archipelago.
In this way, these adult migrants can start their migratory project through the state network despite having been in the Canary network of protection for unaccompanied migrant minors for more than six months, as was the case before July 7.
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, the term of only six months "left these people in absolute vulnerability and the Canary capitals, where that age of majority is notified, with an added problem to assist them, without economic, labor or housing resources."
Until the modification of the protocol, these people were assisted by Accem and accessed the centers for irregular adult migrants.
In 2023 there were 1,372 people in this situation who were welcomed by the state network, despite having spent more than six months in the minors' network of the Government of the Canary Islands. In 2024, in this same situation, there were 698 adults initially identified as minors.
In 2025 there have been 75 people declared adults after passing through juvenile centers, 39 of them since July 7, who were left on the street.
Delgado thanked the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, for providing municipal resources to these young people in these days, but when this exception is applied "they will again be able to access state care resources."
The commitment was ratified by the director of the International Protection Reception System, Paloma Favieres, in the meeting she held with the Canary General Director of Child Protection, Sandra Rodríguez, during her visit yesterday to the 'Canarias 50' center, in Gran Canaria, the transition center where minors with asylum are beginning to be distributed, a visit that was announced by the Canary executive as an inspection.
At the meeting it was agreed that the cases of minors aged 17 years and 9 months will be especially analyzed, who may go to the international protection system for adults to alleviate the minors' system in the Canary Islands.
A system will also be studied so that women have a more agile procedure that allows them to enter the centers of the Peninsula without having to spend several days in the transit center of Gran Canaria.
