The latest CEI barometer, published this Wednesday, leaves an unprecedented figure: immigration worries 30.4% of Spaniards, the highest figure recorded since Pedro Sánchez became president of the Government.
This means that the arrival of irregular immigrants is now a problem for one in three citizens, or in other words, it has become the main concern of citizens, beyond unemployment.
Sánchez arrived at Moncloa in June 2018, after winning the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy, and then immigration worried 3.5%. It was a minor problem.
Over the past year, concern about this issue has grown steadily and is now nine times higher than it was six years ago.
The explanation for this change is obvious. On the one hand, the Canary Islands are experiencing an unprecedented scenario with the arrival of immigrants and the political forces have not managed to reach an agreement that provides a solution to the problem of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving in the archipelago.
On the other hand, crimes committed by immigrants have increased in recent years, according to data from the INE, used by the extreme right in Spain, as in the rest of Europe, to highlight this problem. a close-up.
According to the latest data from Home officeupdated on September 15, so far this year, 26,756 irregular immigrants have arrived in the Canary Islands by sea. This is 85.1% more than those who arrived in the same period in 2023, a year that was already the highest in history. To put things in perspective: in 2006, at the call canoe crisisAbout 31,000 people arrived.
Looking back over history, we can see how concerns about immigration oscillate depending on certain circumstances. During Sánchez’s first year in office, concern increased punctually in the months following the summer.
The highest figures of 2018 and 2019 occurred precisely in September. In both cases, immigration was a problem for 15.6% of Spaniards. In those years, 1,307 and 2,689 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands by sea, according to figures from the Interior.
Yet in 2020, the pandemic revolutionized everything. Even if the arrival of immigrants has increased since then, The Spanish population had other concerns like the coronavirus, and concern about immigration never exceeded 5.5%.
The perception of the migration phenomenon as a minor problem has continued throughout 2021 and 2022; mainly because, although the coronavirus was already less of a concern, the economic crisis derived from the pandemic has conditioned the lives of citizens.
The first time that immigration exceeded the 5.5% threshold after the pandemic was in the barometer for the month of July 2023. Although at that time it only affected 5.7% of Spaniards, it was the moment when the trend changed and since then it has not decreased.
This issue was already very worrying in the Canary Islands at that time. The authorities of the islands saw how arrivals were intensifying and the Canary Islands Coalition requested the reform of Article 35 of the Immigration Law so that minors would not depend on the autonomous community in which they arrived, something that has still not been done more than a year later. has been resolved.
Since then, concerns about immigration have continued to grow. Last July, before the summer holidays, it became one of the main issues and alarmed 16.9%, the highest number since Sánchez arrived at Moncloa. But the data known this Wednesday doubles the situation of July.
umpteenth attempt
As immigration has become one of the key issues in the political debate, the parties are acting accordingly, each with its own strategy. This Wednesday, we learned that the leader of the opposition, Alberto Nuñez Feijoowill travel to Italy to meet Giorgia Meloni and know its model to stop irregular arrivals.
In addition, Feijóo recently signed an agreement with the government of the Canary Islands to try to remedy the situation.
The Sánchez government, however, has not welcomed this agreement because it considers that it is “full of traps” for the PSOE and that the PP seeks to promote measures that would harm the socialists.
Vox, for its part, is the party whose voters are most concerned about immigration and has already broken with the PP in the autonomous communities on this issue before the summer. It remains to be seen whether this scenario will be transferred to the hundreds of municipalities in which the formation of the Santiago Abascal governs in coalition with Feijóo.
At the same time, the central government and the opposition hope to resume negotiations and resolve the reform of Article 35 of the Immigration Law that failed before the summer. According to popular sources, an agreement in principle was reached on August 20, and since then nothing has been heard of it.
As the PP explained this Wednesday in Congress to the Minister of Territorial Policy, Angel Victor Torreshad been satisfied with the agreement, but had to consult the Treasury on its economic viability. Since then, silence.
This week they spoke again to arrange a meeting and, although both parties agreed, they were unable to do so due to scheduling problems with the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijowho will have an appointment with Felipe VI in the next few days.
According to PP sources, they hope that the meeting will finally take place next week and that an agreement can be reached to vote in the Congress of Deputies as soon as possible. Without the PP, the Government cannot approve any measure due to the lack of support it finds among its partners, mainly the Junts.
