Lanzarote received 143 unaccompanied minors in 23 days, in the midst of chaos with their reception

In total, in the first 23 days of September, a total of 592 children and adolescents who traveled alone arrived in the Canary Islands.

September 23 2024 (20:05 WEST)
Updated in September 23 2024 (20:09 WEST)
Migrant care in Puerto Naos (Photos: Juan Mateos)
Migrant care in Puerto Naos (Photos: Juan Mateos)

In the midst of the controversy over the management and reception of unaccompanied migrant minors, 143 migrant minors who were traveling without the company of any of their parents arrived in Lanzarote. In total, in the first 23 days of September, a total of 592 children and adolescents who traveled alone arrived in the Canary Islands. This is according to the most up-to-date data that La Voz has been able to access.

Following the suspension of the reception protocol for migrant minors, approved two weeks ago by the Government of the Canary Islands, and provisionally annulled by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the procedure must be the same: the regional executive assumes guardianship of the minors who travel alone and must house and care for them in the available resources.

Meanwhile, the Canary Islands Government continues to demand that the Spanish Executive solve the problems in the mandatory distribution of migrant minors. To date, it has not yet been possible to unblock the reform of the Immigration Law and thus alleviate the overload of resources on the islands.

The calm of the sea that comes every September with the so-called Pine tides has propelled the arrival to the archipelago of 4,075 migrants between Sunday, September 1 and Sunday, September 22. Of these, 1,219 did so to the island of volcanoes. For the most part, the route to Lanzarote continues to be dominated by men (912), while women continue to be the least likely to embark on the Atlantic crossing (122). In addition to the minors (28) who did travel with their families.

Lanzarote and El Hierro, the islands with the most arrivals

During these three weeks, Lanzarote is the island that has had to care for the largest number of survivors of precarious boats in the ninth month of the year, with 22 rescued dinghies and pateras, closely followed by El Hierro, with 21. Meanwhile, Fuerteventura is at a distance, with seven, and Gran Canaria and Tenerife, with six each.

Despite the increase in border control, most of the 65 boats that touched the coasts of the archipelago in these days continue to leave from Morocco (32), Mauritania (26), and to a lesser extent, from Senegal (five) and Gambia (two).

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