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Spain is struggling to manage a migration crisis in the Canary Islands, which in recent weeks have become a major destination for Africans trying to reach Europe by sea.
On Monday, 170 migrants arrived on the islands, either of their own free will or having been picked up at sea by Spanish rescue services. This follows an increase in arrivals since the summer that has left the local infrastructure unable to cope.
In recent weeks many of the migrants, mostly from North and West Africa, have been sleeping outside in the port area of Arguineguín, on the island of Gran Canaria. At one point, more than 2,000 people were crowded into the area, without basic facilities.
In response, the Spanish government has established an emergency camp nearby with a capacity for 7,000 people. Many other migrants have recently been housed in tourist apartments.
Critics of the government’s handling have warned that Gran Canaria now resembles other European destinations that have become synonymous with migration.
“Would you go on vacation to Lesbos or Moria?” asked Ana Oramas, deputy of the Coalición de Canarias party, who said that the crisis is damaging the islands’ status as a tourist center.
Slightly less than 17,000 migrants arrived in the archipelago between January and mid-November, according to Spanish government figures, more than 10 times the equivalent figure in 2019. The islands have not seen such a high number of arrivals since 2006 and the current phenomenon is attributed largely to restrictions on other routes.
However, this route, which begins in countries such as Morocco and Mauritania, is especially dangerous and NGOs estimate that several hundred migrants have died in the Atlantic this year while making the crossing.
“It is clear that we could have handled this before and we could have had more foresight, but the important thing is to look forward,” said the Spanish minister of migration, José Luis Escrivá, during his visit to the island.
The Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, visited Senegal this weekend, where she reached an agreement with the authorities to resume the repatriation of undocumented immigrants. Repatriation flights have stopped in recent months due to Covid-19.
Coastal controls
Spain will also send a plane and a patrol boat to Senegal to boost the existing support it offers to the country’s coastal controls.
But beyond the logistical challenges created by this crisis, it has also triggered a political storm for the government led by the Socialists.
Last week, the confusion surrounding the expulsion by bus of more than 200 North African migrants from the port of Arguineguín led to the resignation of Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The Canarian wing of the Podemos party, which governs Spain in coalition with the Socialists, also called for his removal.
Grande-Marlaska has said that migrants in the Canary Islands will not be flown to the mainland as has happened in the past, to prevent the archipelago from becoming “an irregular gateway to Europe.”
Meanwhile, the far-right Vox party has called for a naval blockade around the islands to prevent further arrivals.
“Faced with the invasion, the State must defend itself by all possible means,” said party spokesman Jorge Buxadé.
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