The migration crisis worsens in the archipelago

 

 

The last few weeks have been non-stop on the Canary Islands route. During the last two weeks, boats have arrived at the archipelago daily, with multitudes of migrant minors on board. The last arrival occurred on Friday afternoon, when about 100 migrants arrived at the Arguineguín Pier after being rescued by a Maritime Rescue patrol boat.

 

Although the archipelago has always been a destination port on a large part of the African migratory routes, this year the increase in arrivals has been 20% more than in 2022. On islands like El Hierro the situation has already exceeded the reception capacity. of the island, forcing the island council to send migrants to Tenerife. Also in Lanzarote, the La Santa shelter, in charge of hosting unaccompanied minors, is already beyond its capacity.

 

 

 

 

One of the main reasons for this increase is the situation in Senegal. As Maspalomas24h reported a few weeks ago, the President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, conveyed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, his concern about the country's political situation and how it could increase the flow of migrants. These predictions have been confirmed, as the arrival of small boats from Senegal has increased in recent months. So much so, that at the beginning of September, the Senegalese Navy confirmed that it had intercepted more than a thousand migrants whose final destination was the Canary Islands.

 

The expectations in this matter are not good. Arrivals are not expected to decrease and the drop in autumn temperatures increases the risk of migrants suffering hypothermia during long journeys, which could increase the number of deaths on the Canary Islands route.

 

 

This is why the regional Executive has increased visits to Madrid in search of solutions from the state government. In one of these meetings, the counselor of the island Presidency, Nieves Lady Barreto, and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, agreed to include the Canary Islands in the coordination meetings on immigration to achieve greater room for maneuver in the face of the massive arrival of migrants. . Furthermore, a delegation from the Government of the Canary Islands has announced that a delegation will visit Senegal to “analyze the instability of the country.”