Yonathan de León calls for "a new location" that offers "decent facilities" for migrants arriving in Lanzarote

"I don't want Arrecife to become the Lampedusa of the Atlantic. The CATE is overwhelmed and the Government of Spain maintains the overcrowding of immigrants," added the mayor.

October 3 2023 (15:53 WEST)
Updated in October 3 2023 (19:09 WEST)
Tents deployed in the fishing port of Naos, in Arrecife
Tents deployed in the fishing port of Naos, in Arrecife

The mayor of Arrecife, the popular Yonathan de León, declared this Tuesday that he does not want "the capital of Lanzarote to become the Lampedusa of the Atlantic." All given that the Temporary Foreigner Reception Center (CATE), next to the Arrecife Police Station, "is overwhelmed and the Government of Madrid maintains the overcrowding of immigrants.”

The mayor, who recalls that the international community is commemorating this day the "tenth anniversary of the tragedy of one of the worst shipwrecks of this century in the Mediterranean", we see in these last 24 hours that "the island of Lanzarote can be the new Lampedusa of the Atlantic."

As is known, CATE created by the Ministry of the Interior next to the Arrecife Police Station, against the Arrecife City Council and "contravening the urban regulations of the area", is "overwhelmed by the nearly 400 migrant arrivals in one day", in the first 24 hours of this month of October.

"Overwhelmed by the nearly 400 migrant arrivals in one day"

For this, the Lanzarote Security and Emergency Consortium, under the direction of the Island Council's Councilor Kiko Aparicio, has offered its help to the Police Station and has deployed tents in the Naos fishing port, where "about 100 migrants" who have arrived in recent hours on the coast of Lanzarote in small boats are sleeping on the ground.

The mayor recalled that “the State Attorney General has urged the Government of Spain to ensure that the reception resources for migrants in the Canary Islands are decent facilities.” This is what he stated in the Public Ministry's Report on the year 2022.

The Delegate for Trafficking and Immigration of the Las Palmas Prosecutor's Office has defended that it is necessary to "solve the deficiencies" presented by these CATE facilities, to which the "Arrecife City Council opposed" in the previous term.

De León has remarked that the current reality reveals that the "Government of Spain, and the Ministry of the Interior, continue to err by maintaining these tent facilities in the capital, which do not meet decent conditions to house these migrants." Where, in addition, "almost the entire staff of the National Police is focused on the devices for this 'Temporary Foreigner Attention' center, an area where floods are frequent in rainy seasons."

The mayor demands that the National Government articulate a "new location as the headquarters of this CATE, which complies with and offers decent facilities, as well as the reinforcement of the National Police staff on the island."

Among the people who have arrived in Lanzarote are, in principle, “18 unaccompanied minors” and there is currently a Maritime Rescue device to search for “seven immigrants missing on the coast of the island, including a four-year-old child.”

Arrival of migrants to Puerto Naos (Photos: José Luis Carrasco)
Lack of resources to welcome migrants in Lanzarote forces 95 people to sleep on the port floor
Most read