SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 3 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The High Prosecutor’s Office of the Canary Islands refuted on Tuesday that during the previous weekend it, alongside the National Police, coerced the NGO managing the intake of migrant minors in El Hierro to accept additional individuals, insisting instead that it was merely a request for information.
In a communiqué, the authorities rejected any notion of having made requests to the NGO – a claim that the Canary Islands Government has supported in recent days, prompting it to relinquish responsibility for reception to the State – and clarified that “in the normal exercise of its duties”, it only sought to obtain information regarding the measures implemented by the General Directorate for the Protection of Children of the Canary Islands Government.
This inquiry followed the notification from the Provincial Brigade of Immigration and Borders, which had informed them of the arrival of a vessel carrying 15 unaccompanied minors in El Hierro, and the NGO in charge had declared it was “not feasible” to accommodate them.
The National Police shared the same concerns after consulting with the General Directorate for Child Protection, which confirmed its inability to accommodate these minors.
The Prosecutor’s Office affirmed that “only and solely” information had been requested, “without any requests being made to either the NGO or the General Directorate, even though they were also made aware of the impossibility of transferring these minors to the CATE in San Andrés due to it being completely overwhelmed and unable to guarantee their reception separately from adult migrants.”
