Just months after the first refugees from the war in Mali and displaced people from West African countries began arriving in Galicia, having been redirected after entering Spain by boat via the Canary Islands, the initial euphoria of solidarity begins to dissipate. Since the beginning of November, the first negative convictions for asylum applications began to be published at the BOE and, despite the government’s assurance that it would take care of them and “look for alternatives”, the reality is that There have already been cases of refugees expelled from reception centers who slept on the street or in other centers dependent on the Town Hall of Santiago de Compostela.
This Friday, in the center of the Galician capital, there was at least two of them beg on the street. Two young Senegalese people who avoid broaching the subject. Their origin is one of the reasons for the rejection of their asylum request, as they and other cases from Mauritania were rejected because these countries were not considered to be at war, as explained the spokesperson for the Galician Immigration Forum, Miguel Fernández.
The resolutions are trickling in and the negatives already exceed twenty in Santiago alone, even if the final figure could be much higher. According to the Council’s estimates, The number of people affected would be around 70 people, or 40% of the total number of immigrants welcomed in the Galician capital.. While some of the first to be refused received bus tickets and a financial allowance to travel to other parts of the country where they have a network of family or friends, those who refused the option to travel found with no alternative.
An abandonment which pushed the Town Hall to set up an emergency system in collaboration with social entities such as Cáritas and the Red Cross to take care of seven refugees who were on the street, among whom one spent three days in sleeping outside the Monte do Gozo facilities, according to the Councilor for Rights and Social Services, María Rozas, explained this week. Some were reintegrated into reception centers managed by the Government Delegationin Monte do Gozo, while others were welcomed at the Xoan XIII shelter, where two men remain temporarily housed.
This first wave of expulsions, which took place last Friday, November 15, responds to the resolutions published at the BOE on the first day of the month, since the deadline for leaving the facilities is two weeks after the refusal of the right to asylum. . Close sources indicate that The government delegation will not force the refugees to leave the centers, but it will stop providing them with supportwith what that implies. A practice of which they have already been alerted by the Council’s social services, in response to which they ask that “the situation be clarified as soon as possible”.
Pending the publication of new resolutions on asylum applications, hundreds of immigrants remain in the shelters of Monte do Gozo and in the facilities of the former junior school, in A Siltouta. There, they are the subject of constant attention from the NGO Rescate, which has not commented on the denials, with meals, sleeping spacesSpanish lessons – almost all speak French – and individualized professional guidance for their integration into the job market.
As happened this summer, when they began to arrive in a staggered manner, the information on this subject followed one another at the same pace, in dribs and drabs, in the same way as with regard to the promised alternatives by the government. , after the delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, calls for “caution” and Ensure that an alternative will always be offered to those who receive a no to their asylum application.
The next date to consider is November 30, when cases with refusals published on the 15th will have to leave the facilities. However, the department headed by María Rozas has not received, for the moment – as of Friday -. November 22 – “no indication in this regard”. “It should be remembered that these people arrived in Santiago under a state reception program, and it is therefore the responsibility of the central government to guarantee their safety and well-being,” they add from the Department of Rights and Social Services.
What is clear is that the resources available to the city council are limited and partially used by other people. According to the Council, Santiago has 13 places in municipally owned apartments as a temporary housing resource for the homeless. Therefore, they would not have the resources to care for these refugees if further expulsions occurred, unless the central government provided an alternative.
