ARCHIVED - Migrant arrivals soaring in the Canary islands; arrivals 285 percent higher already than for all of 2019

Almost 8 times more unauthorised migrants have reached the Canaries so far this year than in the same period during 2019

The islands are struggling to cope and lack sufficient accommodation for such a  large number of irregular migrants.

In general terms the number of unauthorized migrants known to have reached Spain by sea during the first nine and a half months of 2020 is lower than in the equivalent period last year, but while numbers in the Mediterranean have dropped significantly the figures regarding those undertaking the Atlantic voyage from the north-west of Africa to the Canary Islands have risen drastically.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 1st January and 15th October 2020 the number of migrants reaching the islands rose to 8,102, almost eight times as many as the 1,028 who made the same crossing in the equivalent period last year.

By the end of 2019 this total had reached 2,371, and the 2020 figure is expected to increase yet further, as the autumn is traditionally a busy time for boat crossings.

At the same time, though, the figure of 12,336 reaching the Mediterranean coastlines of the Balearics and mainland Spain has fallen by 29.9 per cent, resulting in an overall increase in arrivals by sea of 5.6 per cent (to 20,742). The remainder of the total is accounted for by those migrants who have reached the autonomous Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of north Africa: both enclaves have recorded significant falls both in this respect and regarding those crossing the frontier on land (down from 4,588 in 2019 to 1,498 so far this year).

Taken globally, this means that the number of unauthorised migrants known to have reached Spain so far this year is currently 22,240, a fall of 8.2 per cent in comparison with the first nine and a half months of 2019 (due to the covid lockdowns), although the data published by the Ministry were compiled before the weekend just ended: on Saturday and Sunday a further 1,500 people entered the country illegally, 900 of them in the Canaries.

On Monday the regional minister dealing with migrant affairs in the Canary Islands, Noemí Santana, officially requested help from the European Union Director General of Migration and Interior of the EU, Monique Pariat, reminding her that the Canary islands were a “southern frontier of the EU”.

The recent spate of arrivals has pushed up the number of migrants reaching the islands to 9,123 so far this year, 285% more than the total figure for 2019, with several weeks yet to go.

She also raised the topic of unaccompanied minors, who legally cannot be repatriated and become the responsibility of the region in which they land; this time last year the Canary Islands government had 359 minors in its care; this year that figure has risen by 240 per cent to 1,202. In the 2010-2014 period when the last major migration occurred, the EU funded the minors programme in the islands and the minister has requested that this be repeated due to the current situation, explaining that the regional government lacks the funds to give the minors “the dignified attention and protection they deserve, “ one of the major problems being lack of space in which to adequately house them.

The outgoing head of the national police in the Canary Islands, José Maria Moreno, said on Tuesday in an interview with the Cadena Ser radio station, that “no matter how much the islands prepared for the arrival of migrants, the numbers always exceed their capacity to cope.”

He believes that a military style encampment should be built to offer temporary housing as the existing infrastructure is woefully insufficient for the job in hand and explained that the repatriation of migrants is impossible at the moment as the Moroccan and Algerian borders remain closed, Mauritius is accepting some flights, but not repatriation flights, and other sources countries such as Mali are impeding efforts to repatriate migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum due to the current political climate of Mali.

On Tuesday the President of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Victor Torres, said that the Interior Ministry was working to establish some sort of shelter for the 876 migrants, who were currently housed in the Muelle de Arguineguín docks having arrived in the last 72 hours. The regional Government had also requested the use of military installations as a temporary base in which the migrants could be housed.

He had, he said, voiced his concerns and requests for assistance to not only the Prime Minister, but also the Minister for Defence and the Interior, the Vice-president and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. On Wednesday he has a meeting arranged with the Moroccan Consul, as the number of Magrebis (Moroccans) has been increasing substantially in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the migrants continue to arrive; on Monday evening the boat “Wadowice II” took 10 migrants on board out at sea, one of whom was seriously ill. By the time the Salvamento Maritimo was able to meet up with the vessel to transfer the migrants, after intercepting two further boatloads of migrants, the man had died.

The other two pateras intercepted contained 22 sub-saharans on one boat and 19 Moroccans on another, all of whom were taken to the Muelle de Arguineguín.