OFFICIALS on the Canary Islands are demanding a state of emergency be declared to combat the growing migrant crisis.
Around 47,000 people arrived in Spain on small boats last year with government officials saying the number of unaccompanied minors has reached almost three times the official capacity.
AFPA boat from Senegal with hundreds of migrants onboard arrives at La Restinga port on the Canary island of El Hierro[/caption]
AFPMigrants arrive on a boat at La Restinga dock[/caption]
ReutersA rescue worker carries a migrant child while leaving a Spanish coast guard vessel[/caption]
This year alone, from January 1, to May 15, 10,882 people have reached the Canaries via maritime routes.
Many of these include young children with the government now admitting they are struggling to keep them all safe due to the volume of those arriving.
The popular holiday islands have a recognised capacity to house 1,737 migrant children.
But the number coming over from parts of West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean have skyrocketed recently with 5,017 minors now on the archipelago.
Concerned officials on the Canary Islands formally asked the Spanish government to declare a migration emergency after the figures were revealed.
A decree was reportedly approved last week by Spain’s Council of Ministers.
The Ministry of Youth and Children are now set to officially declare the emergency which will allow for a reform of the Immigration Law to be activated.
This will see the unhoused minors be transferred from the Canary Islands across to mainland Spain.
Canarian president Fernando Clavijo vowed: “There are no longer any excuses to begin this process.”
Clavijo said the proper procedures must be followed in order to keep the children safe, healthy and looked after.
It comes as the government admitted the massive surge of immigrants arriving to the Canary Islands poses a “security risk”.
The increase in the number of people arriving on Spanish shores creates “situations of serious danger to public order”, according to Tragsa who are working with the Ministry of Social Security and Migration.
Tragsa’s report into the subject concluded: “Since the summer of 2023, there has been an unprecedented increase in the arrival of people to Spanish shores.
“This has required action to provide these individuals with basic needs in order to provide comprehensive care services.
“However, the arrival of migrants from Africa to our shores has not ceased to date.
“Some infrastructure is already in place to handle the migratory flow without causing a catastrophic situation or serious danger.”
Despite the concerns, the numbers of migrants arriving are actually down for the same in 2024.
A huge 16,586 migrants came across between January 1, to May 15 in 2024 – almost 6,000 more than this year – according to the latest data from Spain’s Ministry of the Interior.
The figures show the same trend nationwide with numbers dropping by over 5,500 in Spain as a whole.
One of the biggest concerns with migration in Spain is the sheer number of people dying as they attempt the journey.
Spanish non-government organisation Caminando Fronteras estimates more than 9,000 migrants died during their trip in the last 12 months.
The growing migrant crisis in the UK and Europe
BOTH the United Kingdom and Europe are currently battling significant challenges related to migration.
The UK is grappling with a sharp rise in migration, particularly through small boat crossings across the English Channel.
This has placed immense pressure on the asylum system, with thousands of asylum seekers housed in hotels, costing the government billions annually.
A record number of people claimed asylum in the UK in the last year – with a massive 32,000 currently living in taxpayer-funded hotels.
This has prompted fury from locals who are protesting against the housing of asylum seekers in public spaces such as hotels.
In response, the UK government is trialling measures such as a “one-in, one-out” agreement with France which have again proved controversial.
Across Europe, migration policies are becoming stricter as the influence of far-right, anti-migration parties continues to grow.
Spain’s holiday islands have hit breaking point with near-daily arrivals of small-boat migrants, officials say.
Locals on Majorca, Ibiza, and Tenerife among others are at their “wits end” and have begun rebelling, according to island governments.
Elsewhere, Italy has recently signed a controversial deal with Albania to process up to 36,000 migrants annually outside the EU.
Poland, Hungary and Croatia have all also been made to bolster up their borders and strengthen ties with international allies to halt the number of migrants entering their countries.
Portugal has even been forced to shut the door completely on migrants as they deploy cops on beaches and order deportations within days.
One of the worst humanitarian cases came just last week.
At least 69 people died after a boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania, coastguards in the north-west African country said.
Seventeen people had to be rescued with searches continuing for days for dozens of other passengers heading towards Spain’s Canary Islands.
Most of those onboard were from Senegal and Gambia, according to the survivors.
Local fury
Angered locals in Majorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and across Spain are all said to be at their “wits end” over migration, according to island governments.
Migrants, mainly from Africa, have been washing up on the Balearics and the Canary Islands virtually every day – with 4,700 arriving on Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera this summer.
The UK has been battling a similar problem, with more than 50,000 migrants arriving this year.
But the Balearic Islands are the “main gateway” for migrants moving up into the continent, according to the islands’ president, suggesting some of them could go on to reach Britain.
Mallorca’s south coast is known as a “graveyard” for the abandoned boats – amid an ongoing dispute over who should dispose of them.
President of the Balearic government, Marga Prohens, said the wave of immigration into the Balearic Islands is “alarming”.
Plans are even reportedly underway in Mallorca and Ibiza to launch a UK-style approach to deal with growing numbers of illegal migrants arriving on their shores.
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has begun setting aside part of its budget pay for tourist hotel rooms to house those coming in.
It’s unclear if migrants would be housed alongside tourists in the same hotels, or if whole hotels would be shut to the public for migrants to solely occupy.
Jam PressOne video captures the moment migrants arrived on a beach in Majorca[/caption]
APLocals have been getting used to the huge numbers of migrants arriving in the Canaries[/caption]