On November 15, the Government Delegation informed the Regional Government, by email, of an expansion of places in the two spaces intended for the reception of immigrants transferred from the Canary Islands, in Carabanchel and Alcalá de Henares, with 400 and 110 places. , respectively. The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and the Presidency and spokesperson for the regional government, Miguel Ángel García, expressed his indignation after hearing the news. The Madrid official highlighted the “migratory chaos” that we are experiencing and the “lack of control and effective measures put in place by the central government to alleviate a situation that has lasted for too long.”
The same thing happened on October 16. By email, the Government Delegation announced that 105 places would be opened in Alcalá and 108 others in Carabanchel. This means that in just one month, beds have doubled in these two centers, state public facilities created to accommodate adult immigrants arriving from the Canary Islands.
Then, the vice mayor and security advisor of Madrid, Inma Sanz, assured that the City Council had received this extension with “indignation and surprise”, which, as she said, “came without a single communication from the Government Delegation in the Community”.
Sanz said they knew about the situation from what they read in the press: “A policy with these characteristics cannot be developed in this way.” They also explained that before receiving a weekly email in which they talked about the number of people who were in this center, although they did not know and do not know “those who enter, those who leave, where go these latter or if there are were minors.” “Enough of treating the administrations like this,” declared the vice-mayor, at the same time as she expressed that it is they “who must respond with their social policies” after these decisions.
This is why García reiterates his concern about the saturation of these macrocamps which, according to regional government estimates, already have more than 3,250 places. A month ago the estimate was 2,700. On the part of the Regional Executive, they emphasize that it is “paradoxical and cynical that the department led by Francisco Martín Aguirre has questioned from the first moment the implementation of the new first reception center for minors in La Cantueña, in Fuenlabrada, which has 99 places, perfectly adapted to legal requirements; while the government of Pedro Sánchez continues to expand the places in these macrocamps without any forecast.
More transparency
The councilor asked the delegate the number of places allowed in these two centers and in Pozuelo de Alarcón, as well as the rest of the places allowed, the number of people who have passed since its launch and the future actions that will be carried out from this department with the central government. In Sol, they want to “put an end to the serious migratory crisis that our country is experiencing through the so-called Canary Islands route, and in particular in our autonomous community through the Madrid-Barajas international airport.”
The advisor also asked Pedro Sánchez to conclude agreements with the countries of origin and with the European Union to put in place real measures to control the irregular immigration that arrives in our country. In addition, it should provide the autonomy and municipalities with the necessary means and economic resources, “since they are the ones who must take care of these people.”
As the advisor points out, the migration crisis that Spain has currently been experiencing for a year, including Madrid – because it is the capital and has the main gateway, Barajas airport – has required the creation of a center as soon as possible to decongest the minors’ protection network: “So far this year, the Community of Madrid has helped more than 2,000 unaccompanied minors.”
The Alcalá and Carabanchel centers were installed in October last year on military land ceded by the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in response to the wave of cayucos with hundreds of people arriving on the Spanish border. coasts, notably of the Canary Islands.
Technicians from the Immigration Department were responsible for inspecting these movements to choose as the first these two movements, which were permitted due to the lack of reception places caused by the migratory wave.
