Political tensions have escalated in Madrid after Junts spokesperson Míriam Nogueras warned that the party would not support the Spanish Government if Catalonia were included in the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors who arrived in Ceuta. In a post on X on 17 October 2026, Nogueras said: “Catalonia will remain outside the allocation, or the Spanish Government will not get a single vote from us.” She repeated the demand the following day, invoking the exemption Junts secured for Catalonia during an earlier distribution involving minors from the Canary Islands.
Nogueras argued that Catalonia should not have to take in more minors without adequate resources. She said Junts had acted alone in defending the region’s interests in previous negotiations. Her demand is tied to Article 35 of Spain’s Immigration Law, which provides the legal structure for distributing unaccompanied minors from areas under exceptional pressure among the autonomous communities. The dispute puts Junts’ parliamentary support in direct tension with the central government’s use of that structure.
The current pressure on the system is substantially greater than during the earlier allocation, when roughly 30 minors were assigned to Catalonia. By 21 October 2026, Ceuta’s child-protection system was caring for 3,331 migrant minors who arrived during the mass entry at the end of July. Spain’s Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and government spokesperson Elma Saiz said 288 minors had been transferred to mainland Spain: 107 through family-reunification procedures and 181 under Article 35. The latter transfers used the statutory redistribution mechanism.
Article 35 was amended through Royal Decree-Law 2/2025, establishing a legally structured process for distributing unaccompanied minors from regions facing exceptional pressure. The criteria described in the earlier agreement covered population and per-capita income, as well as unemployment, structural capacity and whether a territory is a border area, an island or has a dispersed population. Unlike a system based solely on voluntary cooperation between regions, the mechanism provides a legal basis for redistribution once pressure reaches the relevant threshold.
The scale of the Ceuta caseload has intensified the dispute over how quickly the new structure can operate. El Español reported that the system was at 11,486% above the capacity reference associated with the 2025 decree. The Interior Ministry had assessed only 8% of the 3,331 minors within 85 days, the report said. The figures show a large gap between the number of children in the protection system and completed transfers: the 181 Article 35 relocations represented only a small part of the total caseload.
Ángel Víctor Torres, Spain’s minister for territorial policy, has defended distributing the minors across mainland Spain as a medium- and long-term response. He has argued that children could receive better protection and access to education elsewhere. Torres also said about 4,000 minors had been transferred to other autonomous communities over the previous two years. He has described the approach as territorial solidarity and criticized the Partido Popular for opposing the legislative change intended to help redistribution.
Regional opposition centers on whether redistribution should be the basic response to the crisis. Conchita Ruiz, Murcia’s councillor for Social Policy, Families and Equality, has argued that the central government should take responsibility for migration policy and reinforce border protection. She said family reunification and keeping minors in their family environment should take priority where possible. Ruiz rejected what she described as turning Spain into “a mere system for distributing people and minors among the autonomous communities.”
The dispute follows a failed attempt in July 2024 to reform Spain’s immigration law and make the reception of migrant minors mandatory for all regions. Junts joined the Partido Popular and Vox in blocking the proposal, negotiated by the PSOE and Sumar with Coalición Canaria. At the time, the Generalitat, then under Esquerra Republicana in a caretaker capacity, called for recognition of Catalonia’s circumstances, citing its comparatively high intake of minors in recent years. Junts later reached an agreement with the government in March 2025 to amend Article 35 through a royal decree-law.
The latest standoff keeps the debate over regional responsibilities in Spain’s migration policy in focus. Arrivals in Ceuta have repeatedly tested relations between the central government and the autonomous communities. A recent analysis noted that European support for Spain’s handling of the Ceuta crisis has shifted, with EU ministers focusing more on broader migration challenges than on criticizing Madrid’s approach (see how EU ministers have changed their stance on Spain’s Ceuta response).
Spain’s distribution system is intended to share responsibility among regions, but the Ceuta figures and competing political positions expose the arrangement’s practical and political limits. Junts wants Catalonia kept outside the allocation, while Torres continues to defend redistribution and regional opponents call for stronger state action on border management and family reunification. The outcome will shape how Article 35 is applied in future emergencies and how much use regional parties can exert over its implementation.
