Panic in 'overwhelmed' Balearic Islands as child migrant arrivals prompt concerns

The Balearic Islands are "overwhelmed" and unable to take in child migrants, the tourist hotspot's president has said. Marga Prohens said there were no more centres to accommodate an influx of youngsters or qualified professionals available to support them. Authorities in the Balearics fear the islands could become a new gateway for migrants and have said previously that they feel neglected by the Spanish government.

Ms Prohens' comments came as Spain approved a decree outlining how many child migrants each autonomous part of the country has to take in. This includes 3,900 who arrived in the Canary Islands and Ceuta, a Spanish city of the coast of North Africa. Most children will go to Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, and the Valencia region. The Balearic Islands should take 406 minors under the relocation scheme.

But the Balearic government led by Ms Prohens, of Spain's right wing People's Party, has threatened to exhaust all legal means to prevent the re-distribution to the Balearics.

Director General of Immigration, Manuel Pavón, has warned the situation is close to collapse and vowed to slow the arrival of minors.

In an interview with Spanish news outlet Hora 25, Ms Prohens said the route from Algeria to the Balearic Islands has seen the fastest growth, with more than 1,500 "irregular immigrants" arriving over the first 15 days of this month.

She accused the Spanish government of not considering how capable the Balearic Islands are to receive more child migrants "with dignity".

Ms Prohens said overcrowding was more than 1,000% as she accused the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of refusing to acknowledge the route between Algeria and the Balearics.

The Balearics' leader claimed this was because Madrid didn't want to send the extra resources needed to handle the influx.

There are more than 600 unaccompanied child migrants in the territory, according to local reports of Ms Prohen's comments.

Irregular migration to Spain has fallen this year, but in the Balearics it rose 170% in the first six months to about 3,000 people, official data cited by Reuters shows.

A number of arrivals were from East Africa, but boat numbers from Algeria more than doubled, according to the news agency.

The Spanish government has pledged to improve the Balearic Island's capacity to take in arrivals.