The Minister of Migration, José Luis Escrivá, has stated that by "the middle of next month" all the migrant camps in the Canary Islands planned by the Government will be completed and ready to use, so that the irregular immigrants being temporarily housed in tourist accommodation that is closed to the public can be moved, freeing up the hotels.
The minister said earlier today that there are currently "about 9,500 migrants in the Canary Islands who are already in the country's reception system, 7,000 of whom are in tourist accommodation across the archipelago.”
Some of them, Escrivá also stressed, have status to be returned to their countries, repatriations that, as he explained, are being carried out at a "slow pace" due to the pandemic situation that the planet is experiencing. Even so, he confirmed that migrant returns have already been made to Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Algeria.
In the same way, he explained that there are thousands of these migrants who have already been transferred to mainland Spain, because they were in very vulnerable situations in their home country, and requested international protection.
Those who still remain in this situation or are awaiting return in the Canary Islands, he indicated, will stay in the camp system implemented by the Government, which also includes buildings assigned by local councils and by the Ministry of Defence.
Escrivá was referring to the Las Canteras barracks in La Laguna in Tenerife, whose inclusion in the reception system was recently announced by the central Government. Escrivá has acknowledged that there is "bad friction" with the municipality, which claims that it does not have the necessary conditions, but he explained that these facilities will receive community funding.
“It is precisely a delay in this financing”, he added, “which has caused the delay in that these facilities are not yet available until mid-February. When they are ready, all migrants who are now in hotels in the Canary Islands can be transferred to their new location.”
