Migration in the Canary Islands: 3,800 arrivals since September

On Tuesday, Coalición Canaria (CC) called on the Spanish Government to share information with the Canary Islands regarding migration flows in Africa and to step up surveillance and control measures, following the arrival of 3,800 people in the archipelago since 1 September, nearly 1,400 of whom arrived between 1 and 11 October.

Cristina Valido, the Coalición Canaria candidate standing for the Congress of Deputies in the general election on 29 November, warned at a press conference that this increase means a swift response is required to prevent reception centres from becoming overwhelmed and available resources from being stretched too thin on islands such as El Hierro and Lanzarote.

Cristina Valido has called for greater coordination between Spain’s intelligence services, African transit countries and the European Union in order to combat human trafficking syndicates and gain an understanding of the migratory movements taking place on the African continent.

Canary Islands: CC calls for more police rather than the armed forces

She has also called for more Guardia Civil and National Police officers both at sea and on land, as well as an increase in surveillance and monitoring resources.

Valido has rejected the idea that deploying the armed forces at sea is the solution to irregular migration and has disagreed with the proposals put forward by Vox and the People’s Party to deploy military personnel to patrol these waters.

In her view, the armed forces would not prevent the vessels from setting sail and their involvement would, at most, be limited to providing assistance.

The CC MP has called for an increase in resources for the police and security forces, as well as for greater international cooperation, to prevent boats from setting sail.

She also pointed out that among those who have arrived in recent days are nationals from Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Comoros.

The EU should involve the Canary Islands in decisions on migration

Furthermore, Valido has called on the Spanish Government to ask the European Union to ensure that border regions are involved in the meetings where migration measures are discussed and decided upon.

In this regard, she has called for the activation of the solidarity mechanisms set out in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum to distribute migrants arriving in border regions such as the Canary Islands.

The MP has requested information on whether the rise in arrivals via the Atlantic route may be linked to tighter immigration controls in North Africa, and has emphasised that the Canary Islands need access to the available data in order to plan for and anticipate possible increases in arrivals.

The CC representative has also called for the Spanish Government to take the lead, alongside the European Union, in coordinating a response to control and monitor the southern border, and has insisted that the Canary Islands must be involved in decisions affecting their territory.