Prohens accuses Sánchez of hiding the risk of migrant arrivals in the Islands: "We are talking about our security"

PalmaThe President of the Government, Marga Prohens, has shown "deep concern" after the head of the Spanish executive, Pedro Sánchez, assured in the Congress of Deputies that he had an report that warned of a high risk of irregular migrant arrivals to the peninsula and the Balearic Islands. In an urgent appearance, Prohens has accused the socialist of having hidden this information when they met "for an hour" at the Consulate last July 29th. "Why is this information being hidden from us?", she asked. She has also demanded that the Spanish government state what measures it has taken to curb this risk of arrivals. "We want to think that the government of Spain has not left this report on a table or in a drawer", she continued: "We are talking about the security of our autonomous community".

The Spanish president gave an account this Thursday of the management of the migration crisis in Ceuta. One of the key issues was to clarify whether, just as the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, said, the Spanish government had received warnings of an increase in movements at the border shortly before the massive entry of 70,000 people into the autonomous city. Although the initial reaction of the State's executive was to deny its own minister and deny having received warnings, Sánchez finally admitted to having received a "routine" report on the arrests registered at the border, which "did not foresee anything even remotely similar to what happened." Instead, he confirmed that there was indeed a report that warned of a "high risk" of arrivals, but it referred "exclusively" to those in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, and not to the Ceuta border.

This information has raised the alarms of Prohens and also of the governments of Murcia and the Valencian Community. In an institutional declaration, she considered that from Sánchez's speech it can be deduced that "according to his security forces and bodies and his intelligence services, the Islands have been at risk for a month without us knowing it." "Let this information be given to us," she demanded.

"The Government of the Islands will request, through all formal channels, information about these alerts directly from the President of the Government of Spain," said the president.

It has also been asked "what has been the response" of the executive "since it had this alert." "I suppose that, if he has received this information, he adopted extraordinary measures: what specific plans have been activated?", she said, and recalled that, since January 2025, 12,000 people have arrived at the Balearic coasts in an irregular manner. She also demanded "a specific plan to respond to this extraordinary situation in the Balearic Islands and prevent risk situations," as well as "the reinforcement and provision of sufficient and extraordinary means" to deal with the arrival of migrants to the coasts of the Islands.

Galmés requests the resignation of Alfonso Rodríguez

For his part, the president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, has demanded the "immediate" resignation of the Government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez, for "hiding" information about the arrival of migrants. Galmés, in statements to the media during the presentation of the start of works on the Sóller roundabout, showed himself to be "very indignant" after the appearance of the president of the Government.

Thus, he has demanded the appearance of Rodríguez so that he gives "all the explanations" and says "why he hid it if they had the reports". "In Mallorca we are insecure, he has left us unprotected and abandoned once again", he criticized. Likewise, he has once again requested the activation of Frontex in the Balearic Islands as "an essential measure to be able to stop the mafias, the arrivals of small boats and, above all, to avoid more deaths at sea".

"They come prepared"

The island president has highlighted the situation of "great uncertainty" that, as he has stated, Mallorca is experiencing, and he referred to the latest small boat that arrived on the island. "They come prepared, with clear instructions, and they light a flare to say 'we are here' so that, from that moment on, they are given full coverage by the Government of Spain," he stated.