Canaries threaten court action over screening of minors

What happened at the bilateral meeting

According to EFE and Europa Press, Delgado said afterwards that the meeting produced no movement on the main issue: who performs the initial screening as part of border control. The Canary government holds that this is a state responsibility.

The ministry instead offered to fund the cost of screening – for the Canaries as well as for Ceuta and Melilla. As reported by eldiario.es/Canarias Ahora and EFE, Delgado rejected that offer, saying it was “not a question of money”. Minister Saiz, RTVE reported, acknowledged that some aspects of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum will have to be settled in the courts, while defending the provision of funding.

What the screening is, and why competence matters

The Canary government bases its claim on the EU screening regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1356, part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which the cited media say has applied since 12 June 2026. It sets out a first-stage procedure for people who enter irregularly across an EU external border or are disembarked after a rescue at sea: identification, a security check, a preliminary health check and an assessment of vulnerability. According to those reports it should be completed as quickly as possible and within seven days at most; the islands cite Article 8 of the regulation.

Screening is distinct from the formal age-assessment procedure. In Spain the public prosecutor's office (Ministerio Fiscal) opens that procedure and, where relevant, authorises medical examinations carried out by forensic doctors; RTVE mentions X-rays of the wrist bones and of dentition. Until the question is settled, the person concerned is to be treated as a minor as a precaution.

Why competence matters: whoever carries out the screening effectively determines how quickly it is decided whether a person enters the child-protection system, an asylum procedure or family reunification – and therefore how long they remain in the Canary reception system.

The two positions, attributed

Canary government: government spokesperson Cándido Cabello said on 4 September 2026, as reported by RTVC, that the demand was “not a new claim”; the procedure is set out in the European regulation, and it is for member states to designate the responsible authorities. The regional administration distinguishes between its own powers over the protection and guardianship of minors and the prior migration and border management it considers a state matter. Delgado warned, according to eldiario.es/Canarias Ahora, that a funding-only solution would again cause minors to accumulate in the reception system; she spoke of overcrowding rising once more.

The ministry: per RTVE and EFE, the ministry considers financial provision for the islands and for Ceuta and Melilla the workable route, without taking over delivery itself, and holds that open questions of interpretation under the EU pact may have to be clarified judicially.

Child-rights organisations criticise how age assessment is carried out: Save the Children has called, via Europa Press, for the presumption of minority to be prioritised and for medical tests to be a last resort, while Fundación Raíces points to wide margins of error. Several outlets report that Spain's Supreme Court has held that a person presenting a valid identity document should not be subjected to age tests absent justified doubts about its authenticity. The administrations, for their part, argue that reliable identification is the precondition for protection, guardianship and transfer.

The numbers and the state of the transfer programme

According to figures from the responsible Consejería quoted by several outlets in August 2026, the Canaries were caring for around 2,600 unaccompanied migrant minors across 86 facilities, against an ordinary capacity put at 737 places. Some reports give roughly 2,700; the figures vary by cut-off date and source. At the peak, the same reports say, the number exceeded 5,000.

The legal framework for transfers comes from Real Decreto-ley 2/2025 of 18 March 2025, which inserted Articles 35 bis to 35 quinquies into the immigration law and provides for mandatory redistribution once a territory triples its ordinary reception capacity. Real Decreto 658/2025 set out the transfer procedure, with a deadline reported as a maximum of 15 days. The Canaries remain classified as a territory under “contingencia migratoria”.

On delivery: up to 31 July 2026, La Provincia reported that 2,273 minors had been transferred from the Canaries to the mainland – 364 under the additional provision of the reform, 709 by the fast-track route, and around 1,200 as asylum seekers following Tribunal Supremo orders. As of 23 August, 233 minors had final transfer decisions that had not been carried out, and 541 planned transfers had fallen through on objections or other grounds.

On arrivals: to 15 August 2026 the interior ministry recorded 4,808 irregular arrivals in the Canaries, according to a fortnightly tally cited by Moncloa.com – 59.5 per cent fewer than the 11,883 in the same period of 2025.

What happens next procedurally, and what is genuinely unknown

According to the Canary government and matching agency reports, a first written submission has already been lodged with the Delegación del Gobierno in the islands. The announced next step is a formal demand (“requerimiento”) addressed to the central state; some reports name the Council of Ministers as the recipient. Only after that would an administrative-law action before the Tribunal Supremo come into play.

Much remains open. No date has been given for the second demand or for any court filing, and the exact wording of the claims has not been published. Nor is it known whether the ministry will shift its position before those steps, or whether a joint technical working group will be set up. Nothing can be said about how any proceedings would end; no case has been filed so far.