The Prosecutor's Office denounces that the old CATE of Lanzarote "repeated Arguineguín"

The State Attorney General's Office denounces in its annual report that the temporary immigrant detention center in Lanzarote, which was closed this winter after complaints from the Ombudsman about its unsanitary conditions, repeated "the same mistakes" made at the Arguineguín pier.

The center, set up in a port warehouse, was visited on October 6, 2021 by an official from the Prosecutor's Office, who confirmed its "condition as a totally improvised and unsanitary place", without "adequate" conditions of stay that did not compromise the "basic rights" of those who passed through those facilities.

In his opinion, that ship "reproduced the same errors observed months before at the Arguineguín pier", where a camp was set up in 2020 in which more than 2,500 people were crowded at times, sleeping on the ground, and which also closed after a request from the Ombudsman to the Ministry of the Interior.

In the case of Arrecife, the temporary detention warehouse was inspected by the Ombudsman a month after the Prosecutor's Office, on November 7. The conclusion of the office headed by Ángel Gabilondo was to request its "immediate" closure, because it did not meet "dignified standards".

Shortly after, the Ministry of the Interior opened the new temporary care center for foreigners (CATE) of Arrecife, after resolving its differences with the City Council of the city on these facilities declaring them a work of general interest.