Spain’s Canary Islands overwhelmed by migrant arrivals • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] [Music] we’re off the coast of the island of elero th000 kilom from Spain with franisco Dominguez who has worked here as a fisherman for the last 10 years there are days when we see five boats come in yesterday we saw one during the night another and now another today I now recognize the shape of their big boats and when I see one I called the Lifeboat rescue service for them to come and get them that very morning a boat headed towards the Island’s main port on board 60 migrants piled up on top of each other the weakest were taken to dry land first after 7even days at Sea many of them were suffering from dehydration and infections six months ago go at this port there was practically nothing here no installation at all but as boats kept constantly arriving we had to organize ourselves urgently with tents Corners to look after people before there was nothing the migrants were just sitting around even on the ground they went to the toilet where they could it was very disorganized Javier armor is a senator who represents the Canary Island in the Spanish Parliament spends a large part of his time warning Madrid about the seriousness of the situation in just a year 250 boats have arrived on the shores of elero more than 14,000 migrants the smallest island in the canaries there are less than 11,000 residents here less than an hour after their arrival the migrants are transported off right the bus is only for adult migrants who are taken to the Island’s largest Reception Center built on a hill it can house 500 people journalists aren’t allowed inside and rage migrants are taken to valde a town 10 kilm away in the North that’s the center where the unaccompanied miners stay it’s a former school hall that wasn’t being used and they gave it to us 250 under 18y old migrants are looked after here we’ve got 19 bedrooms in the dormitories you can see one over there initially we tried to have 10 or 12 children maximum to a room but that’s become impossible we can no longer maintain that ratio because there are too many children and we’ve had to reduce the space they each have the center is currently running thanks to funding from an NGO this is a Spanish lesson that we run every day which kajali teaches he’s one of our members he also arrived on a boat kajali is from The Gambia he’s 24 and arrived in aliero two and a half years [Applause] ago they can’t chat to each other because some speak one language some of them another so it’s really positive that they’re forced to speak Spanish to understand each other these migrants don’t know how long they’ll stay here there’s no obligation at the moment for the Spanish mainland to accept them the island can’t integrate 300 children it’s impossible because we haven’t got enough schools the hospital is a small in the long term there won’t be enough work for so many people we estimate that the ideal number that could stay on elh hero would be between 50 and 70 several families on the island have volunteered to take in the youngest children who arrived without any parents among the were looking after ad and bayaza the two children’s father is currently in prison in tene suspected of people smuggling I left with my father and many other people I remember when the boat began rocking around a lot by was vomiting many people were injured others weren’t lots of them have become mad the children didn’t want to come over here but their fathers made them they often tell us they want to go back to their mothers and their brothers and sisters in Sagal once a week the two boys can call their mothers the conversations are supervised by the director general for miners [Music] it might look like they’re happy and have adapted but when they speak with their families I think it’s really difficult for them they really miss them especially by he cries a lot because he misses his mom a lot he doesn’t just want to talk to her he wants to be with her they don’t understand why they can’t go back home and why their father isn’t there is these kinds of painful situations the small island is tackling as best as it can taken off guard Last Summer the only Health Center in the north of the island does its best to treat the new arrivals hello these two patients are migrants they arrived here on April 5th he had an infected hand we had to amputate some of his fingers we have him under surveillance but he’s much better and he’s got a foot disease which is very common in these Crossings we’ve also had to amputate his toes because since he was sitting down all the time during the Crossing with the bumps he got injured the skin got inflamed and the foot infected the foot was contaminated with a mix of sea water and [Music] feces SII was lucky to survive from Marley he traveled 1,500 kilom along one of the most dangerous routes in the world the boat was going like this the waves went like this and the boat like that I panicked I panicked until I got to Spain Si’s life is no longer in danger and he’s able to tell his family the good news but the head of the hospital is conscious he can’t treat everyone the island only has limited capacity we’ve barely got 10,000 residents and we’ve had 14,000 migrants arrive over a few months we suddenly had to face overpopulation and so we’ve had to improvise constantly how has the small island yo suddenly become one of the new gateways to Europe for [Music] immigration that’s the question being asked by many people here like the people party Member of Parliament Juan Manuel immigration to the Canary Islands used to be mainly into larti fua Ventura and also grand Canaria because they are the most accessible Islands just 100 kmers off the African coastlines but now because patrols have been reinforced in those areas the boat sleeve lower down the coastline from morania and Sagal to get round and avoid the controls and that’s why they’ve been coming directly to eliro if they manage to arrive and don’t get lost at sea that gives you an idea that shows you to what extent things have been done badly from the start we should really tell them in their countries what they’re going to find here that would change a lot of things Charlie could tell them about life here he’s integrated well on kajali is well aware that he has been extremely lucky I think I’ll tell my friends to find another solution rather than coming to Europe because taking the risk of coming in a boat is too high you never know if you’re going to arrive then you can wait 2 years to work because you don’t have any papers at the end of the day I think it’s better to look for another solution to avoid the port being saturated migrant boats are systematically destroyed but even while that is happening other vessels from morania and Sagal are already on their way to replace them [Music]

Located off Morocco, Spain’s Canary Islands are facing their worst migrant crisis since 2006. In just one year, 30,000 migrants have arrived on the archipelago. The smallest island, El Hierro, saw 4,000 arrive in January alone. Despite locals and NGOs coming together to help out, El Hierro is overwhelmed. FRANCE 24’s Clara Le Nagard and Armelle Exposito report, with Sarah Morris.

Read more about this story in our article: https://f24.my/AM1o.y

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): https://f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen

23 comments

  1. They should be all sent back. That's a perfect way to stop them from coming. How did these people think they will get jobs and live a better life when they are illegal? They will bring the same problems they had, they will live in poverty, and struggle in the states. They will work in sweat shops and live a horrible life in the States. They are all misinformed. This is FRICKEN out off control. They want this life that is unattainable when you do things illegally.

  3. This is a hopless case. I feel for these ppl, but it is not the solution, that they all come in. The situation in their countries have to be improved. Hundrets of years ago, europe was in a similar situation. Many poor people, bad hygiene, violence, corruption, and we had to somehow find a way. That is what europe has become. But not everyone can come here or America..

  4. There will come a time when tourists won’t go to Europe what would be the point? It won’t be European anymore it will have become third world slums!

  7. Why do you let them in. This is crazy thinking something is very wrong with this. They use up medical supplyies food houseing. People born there are pushed aside for people that take not give. You should send them back write away and not wait. The government needs to go.

  8. They are coming to take what real citizens have worked for. They will be a huge burden and crime will increase. Everyone knows that but still no one does anything to stop it.

  9. Imagine committing a crime by entering illegally and within minutes getting pushed around in a wheelchair within minutes 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  15. The poor souls they know ounce they get to the U.K. their worries are over never have to work a day day in your life 4 Star Hotel it’s great the mugs even give you pocket money haha no wonder it’s called Great Britain.Maybe this is why they want to come the U.K. 🇬🇧

  17. I was so impressed with how they gathered and went cleaning the streets, beaches, making repairs, helping seniors, to show their gratitude for taking them in.

  20. Why can't the two young boys from Senegal go back to their mother? She wants them back, they want to go back but they have to live with a local Spanish family.

  22. It is not only Haitians and Central Americans, but also Cubans and Venezuelans who have a political, social and economic crisis that is happening there in those countries. But do not emigrate to Chile or the United States, Brazil, Canada, Peru and Mexico, those countries have many problems migrating to countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Suriname, Costa Rica and Panama. Now there is a program so that migrants, when you show up at the border between the United States and Mexico, can apply or they can take you to go to Spain and Canada between those governments.

Leave a Reply