Nearly 1,500 migrants reach Spain’s Canary Islands in one day

On Saturday, 14 November, a record 1,488 individuals arrived in the Canary Islands, with 1,235 people boarding 12 large wooden boats in El Hierro. An additional 203 individuals were intercepted in Gran Canaria, while 50 more crossed into Tenerife. This marks the highest number of arrivals since November 7, 2020, when 1,461 individuals filled 33 boats. Among the newcomers, 108 were women and 167 were minors, according to preliminary data.

Saturday's figures exclude two ongoing rescue operations and a further 122 people who arrived in a large canoe on Friday. In total, 2,331 people from 22 boats have crossed in the past two days. A vast maritime rescue operation, involving six Maritime Rescue vessels and two Civil Guard patrol boats, was deployed to aid the arrivals.

El Hierro's Temporary Foreigners' Reception Centre currently houses 317 individuals, excluding the latest arrivals. Of those transferred to Tenerife via ferry, 158 people are in the care of local authorities, while 11 remain hospitalized in Nuestra Señora de los Reyes Island Hospital.

The island's president, Fernando Clavijo, expressed alarm at the consistent influx of boats this month, which has strained the island's resources. El Hierro's local council has declared a social emergency following the arrival of over 8,000 people over five weeks. Clavijo wrote to European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, requesting immediate action in response to the surge along the Atlantic route, and announced that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would convene an Interministerial Commission on Immigration.

Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, is scheduled to visit the port of La Restinga on Sunday.

The uptick in arrivals is attributed to the Senegalese security forces' perceived loss of control, as they focus on other duties at the moment. Thimbo Samb, a Senegalese resident of Spain for 20 years, is central to a Goya-nominated documentary, Los cayucos de Kayar, which highlights the connection between the political decline of Ousmane Sonko and the rise in migration.

Sonko's dismissal has intensified the lack of hope caused by corruption and employment shortages. Samb, who migrated to Spain four times, advocates for safer migration channels from Africa to Europe. Txema Santana, a former adviser to the Canary Islands government on migration, believes the residents of El Hierro are frustrated with the authorities' slow or non-existent response, not the migrants themselves.

He calls for enhanced services and the rapid removal of people from the island to prevent a potential collapse in services.