Spain has announced an additional €50 million to aid the Canary Islands, which are currently overwhelmed with over 5,500 unaccompanied migrant children and teenagers. The announcement came after Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Fernando Clavijo, the regional President of the Canary Islands, to address the growing challenge of irregular migration.
Prime Minister Sánchez, who had been vacationing with his family in Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, returned to work to discuss this pressing issue. The meeting took place on the island of La Palma, where Sánchez and Clavijo, who governs in coalition with the conservative Popular Party, sought to find solutions to the influx of migrant minors. The Canary Islands, located close to northwestern Africa, have seen a continuous arrival of overcrowded boats carrying migrants, significantly straining local resources.
The meeting also served as preparation for Sánchez’s upcoming visits to Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambia, which are key departure points for migrants attempting the dangerous sea journey to the Canary Islands. While Sánchez did not address the public following the meeting, Spain’s Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Victor Torres, reported that the discussions were productive. Torres, a former leader of the Canary Islands, announced the reallocation of the €50 million to the region—a sum that had been provided in past years but was initially omitted this year.
The Canary Islands have emerged as a major entry point for migrants trying to reach the European Union. While many adult migrants and refugees continue their journey to mainland Spain or other parts of Europe, the responsibility for unaccompanied minors remains with the regional government of the Canary Islands. This has led to an overwhelming situation, as the local government has the capacity to care for only about 2,000 minors but is currently handling more than 5,500. Many of these children and teenagers arrived alone or became separated from their families during the hazardous crossing from Africa, and they are now living in overcrowded shelters with limited access to essential services.
The Spanish government, alongside the Canary Islands’ regional administration, is committed to finding long-term solutions to this crisis. These solutions may include legislative changes to mandate that other regions in Spain share the responsibility for caring for unaccompanied minors. However, efforts to pass such legislation have faced opposition, including a recent failure to approve a law that would have required other regions to accept some of the unaccompanied minors.
The influx of migrants to the Canary Islands has surged this year, with over 22,300 people arriving between January and mid-August, marking a 126% increase compared to the same period last year, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry. The Spanish Maritime Rescue Service continues to face challenging conditions, recently rescuing 173 people, including six babies and eight women, and recovering two bodies from a boat near the island of El Hierro.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands remains one of the deadliest migration paths globally. Although precise numbers are difficult to ascertain due to limited information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the death toll in the thousands. Many migrant boats become lost or face perilous conditions, often drifting for months across the ocean before being discovered far from their intended destinations, carrying only the remains of those who perished on the journey.