Spain Declares a Migration Emergency in the Canary Islands as About 7,500 People Arrive in the First 10 Days of November
Spain's Interministerial Commission on Immigration declared a migration emergency in the Canary Islands after meeting in Madrid on November 10, committing 15.18 million euros to create additional places in state-run reception centres and to fund transfers between the islands and to mainland Spain. Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands government, said the same day that around 7,500 people had arrived in the archipelago in the first 10 days of November, most of them on El Hierro, a small island of roughly 12,000 residents.
The counts differ slightly by source: official Spanish figures put arrivals at 5,857 people in 57 boats between November 1 and 5 p.m. on November 9, while the regional government put the November 1-10 total at about 7,432. By any measure it is an exceptional surge. In October alone, 6,200 people arrived, up 417 percent from the same month in 2025 and the highest monthly figure since 2024. Arrivals since October 1 exceed 12,000, and the 2026 total has already surpassed the 17,788 recorded in all of 2025.
Reception capacity on El Hierro has been stretched to the limit. The island council declared a social emergency on November 6; the island has only about 30 hospital beds, more than 2,000 people remained on the island, and capacity to transfer people to Tenerife had been exhausted. Those arriving come mainly from Senegal, Morocco, Gambia and Mali. Last week, a boat capsized shortly after departing the Senegalese coast and at least 39 people are believed to have died.
The Canary Islands, in the Atlantic off the coast of West Africa, are one of the main migrant routes into Europe and are considered among the most dangerous sea crossings in the world. With a Spanish general election approaching, immigration has become a central campaign issue.
(Source: EFE)
Source: EFE
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：西班牙加那利群岛 El Hierro 岛的 La Restinga 港（Pepelopex 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: La Restinga harbour on El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, by Pepelopex. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
