The phenomenon of irregular immigration does not have a magic button to press to end it. However, police cooperation with the countries of origin is the formula to try to stop it. This is the thesis defended by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who this Monday traveled to Senegal to analyze with the authorities of the African country the situation of the migratory route to the Canary Islands and strengthen the existing mechanisms to combat the human trafficking networks.
The strategy is clear: greater border control to prevent thousands of vulnerable people from continuing to take to the high seas in canoes. Until October 29, 29,771 migrants have arrived in the Canary archipelago, according to data to which La Vanguardia has had access. Of them, more than half, 17,009, left from Senegal or Gambia. This represents 57% of arrivals to the islands in 2023; while in 2022 they were only 4%. In 2021 3%.
Despite these worrying figures, the Ministry of the Interior is convinced that police cooperation to prevent departures is the way to go in the fight against irregular immigration. So far this year, African authorities have prevented the departure of 17,426 people. If these interceptions at origin had not occurred, Spain would have broken all records. Specifically, in Senegal and Gambia interceptions have gone from 242 in June, 416 in July, 726 in August and 1,648 in September to 3,877 in October.
To work along these lines, the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska sent a Civil Guard CN-235 plane on October 17 to patrol the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania. According to police sources, the plane deployed in Dakar has detected nine cayucos in 12 days with a total of 886 people on board. “A highly effective result,” according to what the Senegalese authorities conveyed to the head of the Interior. To further this work, the Interior has delivered to the Senegal Police six new multicopter drones specially designed for the detection of cayuco exits.
Currently the Spanish contingent in Senegal is made up of a total of 38 troops – 33 civil guards and 5 national police –, equipped with four boats, a helicopter and 13 all-terrain vehicles, to carry out joint patrol missions by land, sea and air.
The minister held a meeting with a representative of the Spanish agents before meeting with his Senegalese counterpart, Sidiki Kaba, whom he asked to strengthen the existing mechanisms to "act more quickly" and avoid "more innocent deaths at sea" in the route to the Canary Islands. For the minister, this effort will also improve the prosecution of other illicit trafficking and criminal activities.
Interior also works to prevent the canoes from reaching El Hierro, the last piece of land before nowhere in the Atlantic. It is this small island of just over 10,000 inhabitants that has been suffering from all the migratory pressure since the beginning of September. The Government is making every effort to ensure that it does not become the new Lampedusa. For this reason, according to the same police sources, a device has been established with an ocean vessel with 25 crew members and a Civil Guard plane to detect the cayucos before they reach El Hierro and be able to transfer them to Tenerife. This deployment has made it possible since October 16 to detect another nine canoes bound for El Hierro, thus relieving the capabilities of the small island.
