The central government intends, at all costs, that El Hierro does not become the new Lampedusa, the Italian island that has become the dramatic symbol of irregular immigration. The incessant arrival of Senegalese cayucos in recent weeks is putting to the test the immigration policy that the Government of Pedro Sánchez has deployed in recent years, based on collaboration agreements with the countries of origin and transit and the reinforcement of the reception system. of migrants. At the moment, the main problem has to do with the care of unaccompanied foreign minors, who outnumber the adult migrants welcomed in the Canary archipelago.
For this reason, the Ministry of Social Rights has called on the autonomous communities tomorrow, Wednesday, to address in a Sectoral Conference the transfer of some 380 migrant minors to the peninsula. The Canarian government assures that there are currently around 3,000 unaccompanied minors under its guardianship, so it is expected that they will request the department headed by Ione Belarra to increase the number of distribution between regions, which is, in any case, voluntary.
Sources close to the negotiations assure that the majority of regional governments have accepted the proposal and have already informed the Ministry of their willingness to welcome them. One of them is Catalonia, which until September 2023, had welcomed 43 minors from the Canary Islands and 15 from Ceuta, corresponding to the 2021 distribution [year in which the irregular entry of some 9,000 people into Ceuta occurred due to the permissiveness of the Moroccan gendarmes]. And another 20 from the Canary Islands from the agreed distribution in 2022.
Despite the good reception that they claim the proposal has had, the same sources explain that they have encountered reluctance on the part of regional governments that changed their political color after the last elections. In the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Aragón, in addition to Castilla y León, the Popular Party governs with Vox, from where it has raised a political flag against unaccompanied foreign minors – those they associate with crime. In the central government they hope that the right-wing executives will sign the agreement, although they ask for caution until the signatures are black on white, foreseeably tomorrow.
The collapse in the minor system has nothing to do with the good performance that the adult care program is offering, which has been reinforced since the migration crisis that hit the Canary archipelago in 2020. The people who are arriving in El Hierro, Once the affiliation has been made by the National Police, they are being transferred depending on their vulnerability, to other Canary Islands or to the peninsula. The comprehensive system does not distinguish between autonomous communities, but the distribution is made based on available places. Hence, in recent weeks, groups of immigrants have arrived in different parts of the peninsula to be integrated into the reception system from which, as a general rule, they leave voluntarily shortly after finding work or moving to other countries.
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior continues to defend its immigration policy with police agreements with third countries. According to their calculations, cooperation with Morocco, Mauritania or Senegal has prevented the arrival of more than 11,000 migrants to the Canary Islands in 2023. Precisely the head of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, will travel to Mauritania tomorrow, Wednesday, together with the vice president of the European Commission. , Margaritis Schinas, to meet with the president of the country in order to strengthen migration cooperation.
And next October 16, the head of the Interior will travel to Senegal to meet with the authorities of the African country that has been experiencing a social outbreak since June. Senegal does not systematically accept immigration deportation flights. The Spanish Government will try to bring positions closer to resuming deportations. Police sources assure that this month the preparations for these returns will begin, which the Ministry carries out with the utmost discretion. Spain hopes to start a gesture that has great symbolic meaning, since a message is sent to those people willing to embark on a canoe to make one of the deadliest migratory journeys in the world.