Of the nearly 4,000 migrants, specifically 3,921 (according to official data), who have arrived in Lanzarote in precarious boats so far this year, the vast majority do not spend even 24 hours on the island before being referred to the peninsula or other centers in the archipelago. Many others die at sea before reaching land, and their deaths place the migratory route to the Canary Islands as the deadliest in the world.
Sources from the Delegation of the Spanish Government in the Canary Islands have told La Voz that "all the people who arrive" are referred "as soon as possible" and "depending on the availability of reception and the procedures that must be carried out." For example, in the case of family units, they need more time because they must wait for the results of DNA tests to confirm the relationship.
The manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium of Lanzarote, Enrique Espinosa, has also stated that the survivors of the first boats that arrived on the island on the morning of last Wednesday are already being referred this Thursday.
Specifically, the Security and Emergency Consortium of Lanzarote states that in many cases the survivors of the Atlantic crossing spend 24 hours in Lanzarote, the time it takes for the affiliation, and up to a maximum of 48 before being transferred. Despite this, this agility in referrals also poses a risk for victims of trafficking and applicants for international protection who cannot meet more calmly with the authorities or their legal representatives.
Small centers with girls and children under 12 years old
The same happens with migrant children who arrived on the island without the company of a family member. The Department of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands has also assured that they are referring "constantly" the children who arrive on the island of volcanoes. It should be remembered that the competence over the management of adult migrants lies with the State, while unaccompanied migrant children are the responsibility of the Canarian Government.
Given the increase in arrivals during this month of September, the Councilor for Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marciano Acuña, pointed out during an intervention in the morning program Buenos días, Lanzarote of Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero that: "This whole situation lends itself to many hoaxes and exaggerations. The culture of fear sinks into people", highlighted Councilor Marciano Acuña during the morning program Buenos días, Lanzarote.
"We need help, I don't know in what other way we can ask the State for help, so that it understands that we are in an exceptional situation, that we are the southern border and that co-responsibility has to be put on the table," he said during his intervention last Tuesday.
Despite the fact that in the first 26 days of the ninth month of the year, Lanzarote received 182 unaccompanied minors, those minors were directly transferred to the neighboring island of Gran Canaria. "A transfer has been made outside the island. We are welcoming children under 12 years old and girls. With this, we are considering an educational project, of insertion with more vision," Marciano Acuña revealed two days ago.
After the chaos with the temporary reception center for minors located in the Albergue de La Santa, a space where more than 100 children of different ages and nationalities came to live together and that did not meet the conditions to house children, the Insular Cabildo assures its commitment to smaller spaces. "We had La Santa as a first reception space. That was almost a macro-center and there we could not do an educational work in conditions and we understood that this was not the model," added Acuña.
Thus, the island government has been creating up to eight small centers on the island to care only for girls and adolescents and children under 12 years old. Despite the initiative, these spaces are also in a situation of "overcrowding", which poses a risk to the children welcomed and their care.
