“It’s about people, not goods.” He IES students Sabino Berthelotin Tenerife, published a statement this Monday regretting the transfer of his fellow migrants to other islands. The ESO A 1st year group expressed their ”deep concern and sadness” at the move of one of the students ”without notice”. “He was transferred to another island without us having the chance to say goodbye,” they say. According to the writings they published on social networks, the minor was totally integrated into the class. “He was a close friend of everyone and his presence was very important to our group,” they add.
The students point out that other colleagues with whom they had close ties were also transferred to other regions of the archipelago. The institute asks the Canary Islands government, responsible for the protection of children and adolescents arriving in the Canary Islands without family, to explain this “very sudden” decision. In addition, they ask that the possibility of students returning to the center be reconsidered. “We believe that their emotional and social well-being is a key aspect of their academic and personal development, and this measure has generated a great void and sadness among us,” they emphasize.
“Please consider our request and at least allow us to say goodbye to our friend, since we did not have the opportunity to do so,” they ask. Currently, the Canary Islands protect 5,600 unaccompanied minors in more than 80 facilities spread across the archipelago. On numerous occasions, the Regional Executive has recognized the saturation of the centers and that the minimum reception conditions are not always guaranteed.
The reception of unaccompanied minors has marked the political agenda and relations between the Canary Islands and the State in recent months. The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (Canarian Coalition), has repeatedly criticized the fact that the central government leaves the archipelago “alone” when it comes to immigration. The autonomous community also negotiated with the State a reform of the immigration law which would establish a compulsory distribution of minor children in all regions. However, Junts and the PP (the CC’s government partner in the Canary Islands) rejected the proposal in Congress.
To demonstrate the saturation of resources and demand more collaboration from the State, the Canary Islands have used different pressure mechanisms. The first of these consisted of setting up tents on the platforms against the criteria of the prosecution. In these tents, the miners would spend days until they were transferred to other devices. The next step was the approval of a protocol for the care of minors which requires minors to submit to different police requirements before entering the protection network. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands temporarily suspended this measure following requests from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which warned that these procedures could slow down the reception of children and adolescents, thus violating their fundamental rights.
The Spanish government has announced that it is considering approving the transfer of at least 50 million euros for this year 2024 to the Canary Islands in order to take care of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving in the archipelago.
