The complicated economic situation that Europe in general and Spain in particular are going through during the current year 2009 has caused a spectacular decrease in the arrival of immigrants in small boats and canoes to the Islands.
In total, 2,242 people have risked their lives to reach the Islands, a figure so low that we have to go back ten years, to 1999 and 2000, to find similar figures with the arrival of 2,165 and 2,240 immigrants, respectively.
In addition to the crisis, greater effectiveness in repatriations and in the surveillance of the African coast, especially Senegalese, has also contributed to this decrease, which is 73 percent compared to 2008 (8,300 people).
The Secretary of State for Immigration, Consuelo Rumí, has stated that employment is the main pull factor for immigrants and that the unemployment figures for the current year 2009 "do not invite" foreigners to come to Spain in search of a better future.
In contrast, from the Ministry of the Interior, the Secretary of State for Security, Antonio Camacho, prefers to emphasize "the work of the State Security Forces, the repatriation policy, the agreements with the countries of origin, the pressure on the mafias or the 'efficiency' of the Frontex device." Both causes, economic situation and measures adopted by Spain, coexist and complement each other.
The fact is that for two months not a single boat has arrived to the Islands. The last one did so on October 13 and landed in Lanzarote with 25 people on board. Since then, nothing. Of the 2,242 people who arrived in the Canary Islands in 2009, just under half (908) did so on the island of Tenerife, followed by Gran Canaria (411), El Hierro (374), La Gomera (189), Lanzarote (154) and, finally, Fuerteventura (5).
The most 'active' month was February, with 687 immigrants recovered on the coast or in the sea near the Canary Islands, followed by September, when there was a slight rebound in this phenomenon with 399 irregulars. For the first time in many years, in April, May and November no boats or canoes were registered.
Parallel to this decrease, the arrival of minor immigrants has also been falling. Of the 2,242 immigrants located in the Islands, 201 were minors. It must be taken into account that in 2008, 9,066 Africans landed in the Canary Islands, of which 766 were welcomed by the Canarian Government after the bone test that decreed that they were under 18 years of age.
This fact has allowed that, for the first time after four consecutive years of increase, the number of children in reception centers has decreased and currently stands at around 900, thanks to the fulfillment of the majority of age of many of them.
The year with the highest arrival of immigrants to the Canary Islands was 2006, with 31,859 people, in what was called the canoe crisis. 2006 was followed by 2007 with 11,746 immigrants intercepted on the coast, a figure close to the years 2002 (9,929 Africans), 2003 (9,555) and 2004 (8,519). The fifth year of highest arrivals was 2008, with 8,300 immigrants, which contrasts spectacularly with the 2,242 so far this year.
As is logical, the number of boats intercepted in the Archipelago has also suffered a decrease in 2009, since it has gone from 159 boats in 2008 to 44 in the current year. Since the first boat arrived in the Canary Islands in 2004, 96,116 immigrants have been intercepted.
ACN
