The Canary Islands have been suffering from «a migrant invasion for many years, which, unfortunately, some have come to regard as normal», but «enough is enough!», has declared Vox’s general secretary, Ignacio Garriga.
«Enough is enough, the Canary Islands must no longer be the gateway for mass immigration and the hub for human trafficking syndicates,» said Garriga on Saturday during a meeting with supporters of his party in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Garriga’s visit to the Canary Islands coincides with the arrival in the archipelago of 585 irregular migrants on various boats between yesterday and today, many of whom are minors.
Vox: Funds should be channelled into public services
In his view, «we cannot accept as normal, and Vox will put a stop to this, that the regional government is spending more than 200 million on keeping foreign minors on Canary Island soil».
If Vox were to win the elections on 29 November, it would allocate that money to improving security, healthcare, education or social services, for example.
Repatriations are to replace transfers to the mainland
«What we would never do under any circumstances is pick up those small boats and canoes, bring them to the Canary Islands, and then, a few days later, put them on planes and send them to the mainland.»
In Garriga’s view, «what needs to be done is to put them on planes and send them back to their countries of origin, with all the necessary legal safeguards, with every consideration for their humanity, of course, but with firmness and respect for the law, and that can be done».
He believes that we cannot continue «with these borders completely surrendered, leaving Spaniards to watch with deep indignation and anger as, whilst they struggle to make ends meet or cannot access social housing, those who have only just arrived are given priority over them. And that is neither racism nor xenophobia; it is common sense».
Underage migrants should be returned to their parents
As for migrant children, Garriga believes that «they should be with their parents. Nobody would accept a Spanish child wandering around Sweden whilst nobody did absolutely anything to ensure that the child was reunited with their parents».
«It is unacceptable that the rate of social exclusion amongst children and families in the Canary Islands should be so high whilst so much money is being spent on supporting unaccompanied foreign minors,» insisted the secretary-general of Vox.
Vox rules out regularising the status of irregular migrants
«If Vox is strong enough on 29 November, all those who are here illegally will be returned to their countries of origin» and «under no circumstances will there ever be any mass regularisations of the sort carried out by successive Spanish governments in recent years».
«All those who have come to live off the hard work of the Spanish people will be returned to their countries of origin, and all those who are amongst us but commit crimes will be sent back to their countries of origin to serve their prison sentences,» Garriga stated.
«It is a 'common-sense migration policy and, of course, one that puts an end to the pull factor and ensures the protection of our borders',» he said.
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