The number of migrants arriving on the Canary Islands by boat was estimated at 31,000 in 2006, six times the figure from the previous year, according to Canary Islands government official Froilan Rodriguez Diaz. Approximately 900 were unaccompanied minors – mostly boys under the age of 18, who comprised the majority arriving from Senegal.
Minors are protected under Spanish law, regardless of their immigration status. The age threshold is crucial because minors receive higher levels of support and protection than adults. Unlike their adult counterparts, minors don’t face the fear of repatriation when caught by Spanish authorities.
However, Spanish law does not permit children to work. Thus, the children stay in such emergency centers for a few weeks until they have filed for a residence permit, by which time they are placed in centers on the Spanish mainland. They are expected to attend school or enroll in vocational training until they reach 18. The hope for these young boys is that they will receive their residence permits by that time, get a job and apply for a work permit.
“The Canary government wants to send the children to the Spanish mainland, but the problem is that they do not want to take the children,” said Margarita de la Rasilla, a legal expert at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in Madrid. At the beginning of October, there were about 800 minors on the islands. The Canary government has promised to try to distribute 500 all over Spain, but in the last three months of 2006, only 220 have been sent.
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