ARCHIVED - Unauthorized migrants transferred to field camps in the Canaries

A government scheme will enable up to 7,000 migrants to be moved out of tourist accommodation

A total of 41,861 iregular migrants arrived in Spain by land and sea between January 1st and December 31st, 2020, 29% more than the previous year, when 32,449 arrived, an increase that is mainly due to a huge increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands.

Last year, 23,023 irregular migrants reached the islands, 756.8% more than in 2019, when the total was 2,687, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.

This has created a huge problem for the authorities as the islands lack facilities to cope with this level of migration and tensions ran high during the autumn when more than 2,000 irregular migrants were crammed into accommodation designed to hold just a few hundred.

Agreement was reached to temporarily house them in hotels and tourist accommodation, but this was only ever intended as a temporary measure and although some were sent to the mainland and released, the government is fully aware that there is intense opposition to this from the mainland autonomous regions, who are reluctant to take on the responsibility for irregular migrants in their own regions.

The national government of Spain now says that the first phase of a plan to move unauthorized migrants in the Canary Islands out of the hotels and other tourist accommodation where they have been temporarily housed is imminent, with the “Canarias 50” asylum centre initially set to house 442 people.
Over time it is anticipated that the capacity of the facility will be increased to 1,320 as more and more of those who arrived in the islands last year after travelling by boat from western Africa are transferred there, leaving tourist accommodation free for its habitual use when pandemic travel restrictions are eased. One such hotel was already emptied of migrants in December, and as other “Plan Canarias” spaces are opened others will follow suit.

Canarias 50 is the second migrant detention space to be opened following the Colegio León in December and eventually the government intends to provide capacity to house up to 7,000 people, at the same time creating employment for the local residents who will be employed under the scheme.

Meanwhile, despite the relatively unfavourable conditions at sea in recent weeks, more migrants are still arriving in the islands. On Tuesday morning it was reported that the maritime rescue services had intercepted a boat with 69 sub-saharans on board 35 miles south-east of Fuerteventura, bringing them ashore in Puerto de Gran Tarajal.