Spain takes steps to transfer unaccompanied immigrant minors from the Canary Islands
MADRID (AP) – Spain took a measure on Wednesday to redistribute thousands of unaccompanied underage immigrants who currently live in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in Northwest Africa where thousands of people try to reach Europe each year.
The reform ended a month-long political stalemate between the Spanish region and the central government, aiming to relieve pressure on overcrowded immigration reception centers, mainly in the Canary Islands.
For months, local leaders in the Canary Islands have complained about the lack of resources to shelter thousands of unaccompanied children and teenagers, many from West Africa, who have reached the coast.
In Spain, the population is 49 million, and the central government is responsible for the treatment of adult immigrants, while the regional government is responsible for the unaccompanied minors.
After the measure was approved on Tuesday, Ángel Victor Torres, the government minister responsible for Spain’s relations with its region, called the measure a “mile mark in defending human rights” and the rights of minors.
“Anyone who visits the Immigration (Reception) Center is good for anyone with questions,” Torres said. “See, in the space with 20 people, there are 300 people, who are 15-year-old children.”
For areas such as the Canary Islands who cannot receive more unaccompanied minors and Spanish residents in North Africa, the measure will allow some of them to move to other parts of Spain, taking into account a region’s population, per capita income, unemployment rate and other considerations.
The Canary Islands are sheltering more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors throughout the archipelago. About 4,000 immigrants will be moved to other places outside the Spanish mainland.
A spokesman for each Catalan Party said that while the final figures are still being covered up, wealthy Catalan regions, including Barcelona, will receive only 20 to 30 unaccompanied minors.
The support of the measure by the Catalonian separatist parties is the key to the deal that the Spanish minority government led by socialists has reached.
The Atlantic Ocean between West Africa and the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. Nearly 47,000 people who made a transit last year arrived in the archipelago, breaking previous records for the second time. Most are citizens of Mali, Senegal and Morocco, with many boarding boats from the Mauritanian coast to Spain.
According to the Spanish Ministry of Interior, the figures have dropped so far this year. As of March 15, nearly 11,000 immigrants have arrived in Spain this year, a decrease of 21% from the same period last year.
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