The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has expressed from Brussels his support for the proposal that Spain regularize the situation of immigrants who reside without papers in its territory, "in order not to condemn them to live in the underground economy or to wander the streets."
Clavijo, in statements made in the European capital, where he is participating in a forum on EU agricultural programs for the outermost regions," has pointed out that "if they have arrived and are here, it is the result of a bad immigration policy of Europe and Spain, but what you cannot do is sweep them under the rug," he argued.
Although the bulk of irregular immigration arrives through airports, with temporary tourist visas, since 2020 the Canary Islands have been the main entry point to the country for those who risk their lives in a small boat or a canoe from Africa to access Spain.
Its president believes that "it is reasonable that these people can have papers to be able to work, to be able to be in the legal economy, to not be subjected to prostitution, trafficking or mafias (...) and so that they can open up a future, which is what they have come looking for."
Clavijo has also spoken about the decision of the Supreme Court to examine whether the Government of Spain has any competence to assume in the initial reception of migrant children who arrive on the islands without an adult to take care of them.
"It is sad that we have had to go to the Justice and the Supreme Court to observe the rights of unaccompanied foreign minors and the Canary Islands. But it is what we have," said the president, who believes that his community has been left "alone" in the face of the constant arrival of canoes.
