The Lanzarote Minors' Center "cannot absorb" all the minors who have arrived in recent weeks by boat to the island, and to those who will join about 12 more this Thursday, after the arrival of the last boat.
At the moment, the facility hosts between 35 and 36 minors, when its quota is 27. Faced with this phenomenon, which is "focusing on Lanzarote", the Department of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote has requested help from all the councils of the Islands and the general directorate of the Government of the Canary Islands. A total of six minors have already been welcomed by the Cabildo of Tenerife. In addition, the protocol to verify that immigrants are minors has changed and the Cabildo fears that it will become "a call effect" for the mafias.
The Minister of Social Welfare, Marciano Acuña, explained this Thursday on Radio Lanzarote that "due to the good weather, traditionally September and October" are two months in which boats usually arrive in Lanzarote. Although there has been a "notable" decrease in recent years, the frequency in the arrival of this type of boat has increased since a few weeks ago.
"We cannot absorb 10 or 11 minors every week"
"We are very concerned and we have transmitted this to the rest of the councils and the general directorate of the Government of the Canary Islands. We cannot absorb 10 or 11 minors every week," he said. And it is that in the boat that arrived in La Graciosa traveled "ten minors" who were welcomed in this center of Lanzarote, while in the one that has arrived in Caletón Blanco on Wednesday night traveled "a similar amount" of minors. "We have no capacity if this continues to be a trickle," Acuña warned.
The councilor explained that "at the time" a quota was established to distribute the immigrant minors among the different Canary Islands. Lanzarote was assigned a quota of 27 minors, which has already been exceeded with the arrival of these last boats. "We are over 100 percent of our assigned quota," Acuña insisted. Meanwhile, the minors' centers in the rest of the Islands are at "50, 30 or 20 percent" of their capacity.
The councilor believes that although Lanzarote is being "touched" more closely by this phenomenon because it is the "easternmost island", it should not have to assume "all the minors". The first council that has responded to the request of Lanzarote has been that of Tenerife, where six minors have already been transferred from the last ones that have arrived on the island by boat. In addition, between this Thursday and Friday another four minors will be referred to that island.
Possible "call effect"
The councilor is not only concerned about the capacity of the Lanzarote Minors' Center if this phenomenon continues to increase, but also the change in the protocol to verify that immigrants are minors, as many of them declare upon arrival on the island. "Previously, when they arrived, they were given a bone test that was decisive to rule out whether or not they were minors. If he was an adult, he was made available to the Police to process his repatriation," Acuña explained.
However, this protocol changed after a complaint about one of the immigrants who was traveling in the boat against which the Civil Guard collided. "There was a complaint because a minor was classified as an adult, when he was a minor," Acuña said. Therefore, other complementary tests are now needed to determine if the immigrant is a minor.
The problem is that these tests take "one or two weeks", which allows the immigrant who is in the Minors' Center to "escape" in the event that he is an adult. "If he is of legal age, he bypasses the controls and escapes from the minors' center. I have already spoken two or three times with the prosecutor for minors in the Canary Islands to explain the situation," Acuña indicated.
The councilor has warned about this change in the protocol that "can be very dangerous, because immigrants can bypass the controls." "We have raised the alarm in this regard. If this does not change, the protocol is not redefined, it could become a call effect. When the mafias know the new procedures, it may encourage more boats to arrive. It is a way to bypass police controls," the councilor insisted.
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