Vox counselors ditch the Government over the distribution of migrant minors and Youth calls it a "tantrum"

The far-right counselors of Vox with responsibilities for childhood in Aragon, Extremadura, and Castilla y León stood up the Government this Wednesday at the Sectoral Commission for Childhood and Adolescence, convened to address the financing of regional reception systems. The absence did not block the meeting. Sources from the Ministry of Youth and Childhood dismissed it as a "tantrum without consequences."

The three leaders who did not attend were Alejandro Nolasco, vice-president of Aragon; Óscar Fernández, vice-president of Extremadura; and Carlos Pollán, vice-president of Castilla y León. All three manage areas of Social Services or Family after the government pacts between the PP and Vox in those communities.

The meeting went ahead with a quorum. According to the Ministry, all communities voted in favor of raising to the Sectoral Conference the distribution of 35 million euros to sustain the reception systems, except Murcia, which abstained. Youth and Childhood also specified that the binding and solidarity reception of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents was not addressed at this Wednesday's meeting.

From the far-right party, their absence has been justified by their rejection of the distribution of unaccompanied foreign minors, and they have accused the Government of acting "unilaterally." In a statement issued by their departments, the ultra counselors spoke of "arbitrary" criteria and announced that they would use all legal, administrative, and institutional means to oppose the Executive's policy.

Vox's strategy from PP governments

The gesture fits with the battle that Vox has opened from the ministries it has obtained in its regional pacts with the PP. In Extremadura, Aragon, and Castilla y León, the far-right has taken over responsibilities linked to the care of migrant minors. This is an issue that Santiago Abascal's party has placed at the center of its anti-immigration discourse.

The distribution of minors is based on the reform of the Immigration Law approved in March 2025, designed so that reception does not fall almost exclusively on Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. The Government argues that it is about distributing responsibility among territories and strengthening the public resources already managed by the autonomous communities.

Vox, on the other hand, has turned the issue into another front against the Executive. In Aragon, Nolasco already announced age tests for all foreign minors sent by the Government, although these tests depend on the Public Prosecutor's Office and not on an autonomous community. The party has also insisted on speaking of "pull effect" and "migratory scam," within a line marked by "national priority" and remigration.

The PP is once again caught in the middle of the clash. Its pacts with Vox have handed over the management of these competencies to the far right in three territories, just as the Government is trying to close a distribution system that would relieve the communities most strained by the arrival of minors. In this first meeting, Vox's no-show has not stopped the processing of the economic distribution.