The arrival of more than 400 migrants to Lanzarote and La Graciosa has once again highlighted the lack of centers to care for these people in dignified conditions. This Tuesday, the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands responded when questioned about the overcrowding of immigrants in a warehouse in Arrecife and the "blockade" to the opening of the Temporary Foreigners Assistance Center (CATE), that the refusal of the Arrecife City Council to grant municipal licenses to regularize the necessary supplies for its operation "is not justified at all", since it is currently pending these administrative procedures to be able to open it.
From the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands, they consider that the municipal government must explain the reason for the delay and what are the "obstacles that are delaying" the opening of an infrastructure that could be finished and ready for its opening after investing 2.1 million euros in land ceded to the Ministry of the Interior by the port authority.
Pestana hopes that the Arrecife City Council will explain why it is a center for the first 72 hours of migrants after their arrival and where agents carry out the identification, as well as Covid-19 tests can be done to later transfer them to a migrant reception center.
There are about 3,000 immigrants in the archipelago
The Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, stated this Tuesday that there are still about 3,000 immigrants in the archipelago, although regarding the arrival of people in an irregular situation, he pointed out that the islands are in "similar" figures to those of last year.
Specifically, he pointed out that from January 1 to 24, 1,864 people arrived on board 40 boats, although he clarified that a change in profile is perceived, since in 2021 there was a "notable increase" in the arrival of women, going "from 1,100 to 3,000", as well as in the type of boats that "are becoming more fragile" because "many are inflatable" and come "very overloaded", so he stated that "as soon as the sea punishes, the navigation makes it tremendously dangerous, hence the deaths at sea have possibly increased".
Likewise, Pestana stated during statements to Cadena Ser and collected by Europa Press that more migrants are arriving from the "Saharan and Moroccan coast than from below", which is where Spain has more patrol boats.
However, he has defended that the Canary Islands currently has more resources thanks to the work of the corresponding ministries, although he has admitted that "deficiencies" continue to be detected.
On the other hand, the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands has considered that Morocco's collaboration model in the Mediterranean "should be reflected on the Atlantic coast", since he indicated that they must "improve control increases a lot".
Likewise, he has considered as other "deficiencies" that must be polished those related to the transfer of minor immigrants to the peninsula, since it is an issue that at the time "affected Andalusia and is now happening to the Canary Islands", appealing in this sense to the collaboration of the rest of the autonomies.
