Record number of migrants arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands

详细摘要

New EU migration and asylum laws have largely failed to stem flow of migrants to Spain and its territories.

Spain has declared a migration emergency in the Canary Islands after the arrival of more than 9,000 people in its Atlantic Ocean territory since the start of November.

Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said it had rescued 1,488 migrants aboard 14 dinghies, also known as pirogues, most of whom arrived on El Hierro in the Canary Islands from West Africa on Saturday.

That’s broken the record of 1,461 people rescued six years earlier in November 2020.

Spain’s Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres is visiting ⁠El Hierro on Sunday to discuss the surge in migrant arrivals.

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from El Hierro, said the arrival this year has set a record in the 32 years since statistics have been collected.

“There’s been even more arrivals by Sunday afternoon”, Smith said, adding that the new arrivals are processed at the port in El Hierro and taken to a reception centre and sent on to other Canary Islands or to the Spanish mainland.

“EU states are under pressure to do more to control migration from Africa and from outside the European Union,” Smith said, adding that the new rules haven’t stopped the flow of migrants to Spain and its enclaves.

Last month, Spain deported more than a dozen of the 80,000 people who had entered its North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco over a 48-hour period in late July.

At least 100 people died during the mass crossing into the autonomous city, which covers just 18.5 square kilometres (7.1sq miles) and has a population of about 80,000.

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