SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Feb. 2 (EUROPE PRESS) –
The senator for the island of La Gomera, Fabián Chinea, urged the central government this Wednesday, in the plenary session of the Senate, to fulfill its promise to reach an agreement with all the autonomous communities to guarantee the distribution of the almost 3,000 immigrant minors who are blocked in the Canary Islands.
Specifically, Chinea has referred to the announcement made by the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda in May 2021, in which he promised to reach an agreement within two months with all the administrations involved within the Territorial Council to approve a strategy for the integration of unaccompanied migrant minors.
This strategy recalled that, as the Ministry stated at the time, “it would serve as a boost to address the situation of migrant minors who are in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and in the Autonomous City of Ceuta”, as reported by ASG in press release.
At that time, he clarified, the central government “put on the table a commitment to articulate a solution before the month of July”, however he regretted that “it has not been like that”, with the Canary Islands currently in a “limit situation and extreme gravity on the islands due to the arrival of more than 3,000 people during the month of January” to the archipelago.
He added that although the guardianship of minors corresponds to the autonomous communities, “there have been promises from both the State and some autonomies to alleviate the drama that is being experienced in the Canary Islands, but very few have responded to the desperate call” that has been made from the islands.
“We throw our hands in our heads when we see the faces of the boys and girls who flee from hunger and misery, but many times we stay in regret,” he pointed out, adding that “it hurts a lot to see” how autonomous communities that are part of the same country “turn their backs on a territory, such as the Canary Islands, which has been suffering a Dantesque humanitarian drama for more than two years”.
Finally, he explained that the arrival of more than 3,000 people in January, many of them minors, has caused the Government of the Canary Islands to make an “urgent appeal because, right now, there is not a single place left to welcome a minor more All those who arrive from now on will have to sleep in a police station or in spaces authorized by the Ministry of the Interior that do not meet the conditions for the care of children.
In this sense, he has warned that if the central government “does not act urgently, many minors will be forced to sleep outdoors due to the inability of those who have not been able to make a decision to solve an extremely serious problem” .
