The National Police has sent up to The iron to a dozen agents to attend to the increase in cayucos arriving from Senegal, according to sources from the Government Delegation. Although the island falls within the powers of the Civil Guardattention to migrants who arrive in Spain irregularly and border management is the responsibility of the immigration units of the National Police, which for the first time is installed in El Hierro.
Until now, Every time a boat arrived, the agents had to travel from Tenerife to Valverde but, given the high frequency with which boats have arrived in recent weeks and the forecast that they will continue to increase in the coming monthsthe Ministry of the Interior has chosen to deploy them permanently in El Hierro.
This is a temporary measure and the agents will return to their usual destination once the rate of arrivals to the island slows down. The displaced police come from the Tenerife police stations and correspond to the scientific and foreign police.
The Meridian Island currently supports great migratory pressure. So far this year, El Hierro has received 2,2,565 people, of which 636 are minors, according to Red Cross data. 70% of these migrants come from Senegal, 20% from Gambia and 5% from Mali. The sociopolitical crisis that Senegal has been going through since the end of June has triggered the use of canoes to reach the islands from the Senegalese coast. When setting sail from enclaves located in the south of the Archipelago, the route they follow mostly ends in the westernmost islands, specifically in El Hierro and Tenerife.
To alleviate the tension that the El Hierro foster care system supports, the Government Delegation in Canary Islands chartered this Monday a ship Shipping Weapons to transport 300 people to Tenerife. This humanitarian trip was carried out by the Volcano of Taburientewhich disembarked at the Los Cristianos dock, where the National Police had prepared a security deployment.
