Spain sends illegals back home
2006-09-13 19:15
Madrid - Spain has started sending home undocumented Senegalese from crowded holding facilities on the Canary Islands, part of its drive to stem floods of poor Africans who braved a dangerous sea voyage in search of a toehold in Europe, said a government minister on Wednesday.
Labour and social affairs minister Jesus Caldera would not specify how many people have been sent to Senegal, saying African countries that take back such travellers "do not like publicity." The newspaper El Pais, quoting Spanish and Senegalese officials, said the operation would involve more than 1 000 people.
More than 23 000 migrants have made dangerous ocean crossings from northwest Africa to Spain's Canary Islands so far this year - nearly five times the number for all of 2005 - leading to the drowning of many and a near collapse of holding facilities on the islands.
Repatriation flights are not uncommon, but they are rarely announced publicly.
Government toughened its tone
The current flood of migrants to the Canary Islands is dramatic and relentless: it is frequent for 500 or more Africans to arrive in one day.
Last week the government toughened its tone, warning African countries they had to do more to stop the departures and saying anyone who arrives illegally would eventually be sent home.
Spain tends to take in illegal migrants and try to identify them for repatriation. But many arrive without passports with the specific goal of avoiding identification.
This leaves Spanish authorities with no choice but to hold them for a maximum of 40 days and release them with an expulsion order - meaningless because the migrants have no money to go home and no desire to do so.
Along with Mauritania, Senegal is a key launching point for undocumented migrants bound for the Canary Islands and thousands of those now in the Atlantic archipelago off west Africa are believed to come from Senegal itself.
Spain to host meeting
A team of Senegalese police has been in the Canary Islands for the past few days trying to identify people believed to be from that country, even if they have no documents, based on interrogations in which the agents focussed on their accent when they speak and other signs that might indicate they are from Senegal.
As part of Spain's efforts to enlist more support from the European Union, deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega announced on Wednesday that Spain will host a meeting of EU interior, foreign and defence ministers in Madrid on September 29.
The countries invited are France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Malta and Slovenia.
The goal is to come up with a proposal for a common EU policy on how to manage maritime borders and submit it to a full-blown, regularly scheduled summit of EU leaders in December, said Spanish officials.
Illegal immigration a joint EU problem
Spain has complained that an EU plan announced in May to monitor African waters with ships and aircraft has never been implemented fully, with few countries chipping in and with little material at that.
Spain insists that illegal immigration is a joint EU problem, not just a dilemma for this country that is one of the bloc's southern gateways.
Interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told the senate on Wednesday that so far this year Spain has repatriated about 59 000 undocumented migrants.
This figure includes people sent not just to Africa, but Latin America and other countries of Europe.
- AP