So far this month, 393 people have arrived in Lanzarote on board precarious boats. In total, 45 of them have reached the coast on their own and without the need to be rescued by Maritime Rescue. The favorable sea state and good weather facilitate the arrival of pateras and cayucos with less risk for migrants.
Despite the fact that arrivals are maintained, the Temporary Foreigners Assistance Center (CATE) of Lanzarote, the only space enabled for the first assistance and affiliation of these people, is at less than 20% of its capacity. This has been confirmed by the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands. Other sources claim that, as of today, there are only 39 migrants in this stay.
According to the Emergency Coordination Center (CECOES), the migrant men who arrive on the coasts of Lanzarote and are transferred to the CATE spend less than 48 hours on the island until they are transferred by plane to other islands and from there to the Peninsula. This agility in the referrals means that the care center is well below its maximum capacity.
Meanwhile, women and minors, a minority on the route, spend more time on the island until they are transferred to other places.
The proximity of the Canary Archipelago and, in particular, of Lanzarote with the African continent has turned the islands into a historical point of arrival of precarious boats for almost 30 years. This journey, which starts from the northwest of Africa to the islands, is known as the Canary Route.
As a result of the increase in arrivals in 2019 and 2020 and the saturation of the few spaces enabled, emergency resources were created to assist the people who reached the islands. In Lanzarote, a police protection warehouse was first set up to house migrants during the first 72 hours of their stay on the island and was renamed "the warehouse of shame".
After that, the Temporary Foreigners Assistance Center (CATE) of Lanzarote was inaugurated, next to the National Police Headquarters in Arrecife, to offer this same service. This space, located a few minutes from the Commercial dock where Maritime Rescue disembarks the occupants of the pateras, is where migrants are now attended to. In addition, the Government of Spain plans to transform these temporary spaces with tents into more resistant structures to meet the needs of each moment.
Lanzarote, Fuerteventura or Gran Canaria have historically been the Canary Islands where more inflatable boats and pateras have arrived due to their proximity to the emitting countries: Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal.
Until May, Lanzarote received 50.55% of the arrivals of migrants rescued on the Canary Route, according to data provided by the Red Cross. Despite this, the Ministry of the Interior does not provide data broken down by islands.
