SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Jan. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The spokesman for the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, has shown this Thursday the “concern and consternation” of the Executive with the increase in the arrival of migrants in recent days, with the rescue of almost 600 people in just 48 hours.
In a press conference to account for the agreements of the Governing Council, he lamented that there may be more deaths because the disappearance of 18 people in a boat rescued near Lanzarote on Tuesday night is being investigated.
Pérez has warned of the strong increase in arrivals throughout the month of January and especially, due to the type of vessel and the state, for which he has asked the State that demands more commitment from the European Union to prevent the increase in immigration. illegal.
He has confessed that on Monday he spoke with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, who confirmed that the situation in North Africa “has been aggravated” by political instability in many countries, with coups, and the closure of borders. from Morocco.
However, he has described as “good news” that 40 percent of departures from the African coast are aborted –according to Interior data– and that there are prison sentences for employers and members of migratory mafias. “It is good that it is known that the mafias are going to end up in jail,” he added.
He also said that in the archipelago there are some 3,000 migrants welcomed, much less than a year ago, which shows that there is mobility when “it seemed impossible that they could continue their march.”
As for minors, he has indicated that the Government is not going to “loosen” in its request for legislative changes so that care for unaccompanied minors falls solely on the border regions.
According to Pérez, “it is natural” that “the burden” of his care falls in solidarity throughout the State, something that clashes with the fact that “a man” from a province in the center of the Peninsula may think that his community does not have to bear those costs.
