The Central Government intends, yes or no, that El Hierro does not become the new Lampedusa, the Italian island turned into the dramatic symbol of irregular immigration. The incessant arrival of Senegalese shepherds in recent weeks is testing the migration 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 system of ‘reception of migrants. At the moment, the main problem has to do with attention to unaccompanied foreign minors, who outnumber migrant adults hosted in the Canary archipelago.
For this reason, the Ministry of Social Rights has convened the autonomous communities tomorrow, Wednesday, to address in a sectoral conference the transfer to the Peninsula of around 380 minor migrants. The Canary Islands government says that it currently has around 3,000 unaccompanied minors under its care, so it is expected that they will ask the department headed by Ione Belarra to increase the number of distribution between regions which is, in all case, volunteer
Sources close to the negotiations assure that the majority of regional governments have accepted the proposal and have already advanced to the ministry their readiness to host them. One of these is Catalonia, which until September 2023 had received 43 from the Canary Islands and 15 from Ceuta, corresponding to the distribution of 2021 [the year in which there was the irregular entry of around 9,000 people into Ceuta the permissiveness of Moroccan gendarmes]. And 20 from the Canary Islands of the distribution agreed in 2022.
Despite the good reception they say the proposal has had, the same sources explain that they have indeed encountered reluctance on the part of regional governments that changed their political color after the last elections. In the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Aragon, in addition to Castile and León, the Popular Party governs with Vox, from where it has raised a political flag against unaccompanied foreign minors – whom they associate with crime. In the Central Government they expect the right-wing executives to sign the agreement, although they ask for caution until the signatures are secured, presumably tomorrow.
The collapse of the juvenile system has nothing to do with the good performance offered by the adult care program, which has been strengthened since the migration crisis that hit the Canary Islands in 2020. people who are arriving in El Hierro, once the affiliation has been carried out by the National Police, are being transferred depending on their vulnerability to other Canary Islands or the Peninsula. The comprehensive system does not distinguish between autonomous communities, but distribution is based on available places. That is why in recent weeks groups of immigrants have arrived in various parts of the Peninsula to be integrated into the reception system which, as a general rule, they leave voluntarily after a short time after finding work or moving to other countries.
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior continues to defend its migration policy with police agreements with third countries. According to his calculations, cooperation with Morocco, Mauritania or Senegal has prevented the arrival of more than 11,000 migrants in 2023. Precisely the head of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, will go to Mauritania tomorrow, Wednesday, 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 on October 16, the head of the Interior will travel to Senegal to meet with the authorities of the African country, there is a social outburst at the end of June. Senegal does not systematically accept deportation flights of immigrants. The Spanish Government will try to get closer to resuming deportations.
Police sources assure that preparations for these refunds, which the Ministry carries out with the utmost discretion, will begin this month. Spain hopes to achieve a gesture that has a great symbolic charge, since a message is being sent to those people willing to embark on a pastera to make one of the deadliest migration crossings in the world.
