Spain lawmakers approve underage migrant plan to relieve Canary Islands

FILE PHOTO: A rescuer helps a migrant child disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin, in the island of Gran Canaria. Spain, June 3, 2023. REUTERS/Borja Suarez/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish lawmakers approved on Thursday a plan to relocate thousands of underage migrants staying in cramped youth centres, mainly on the Canary Islands, to the rest of the country as its outposts struggle to cope with higher migration flows.

The seven Spanish islands off northwestern Africa's Atlantic coast host more than 6,000 migrant minors and the North African enclave of Ceuta over 800, living in overcrowded centres in substandard conditions.