Spain declares “migration emergency” in the Canary Islands

O Spain’s government today declared the situation of “migratory emergency” in the Canary Islands, after the arrival of 7,400 migrants in ‘pateras’ since November 1.

Among the measures announced by the Spanish Government are the strengthening of means of rescue of people at sea, as well as reception and land security, along with compensation and aid to the population of El Hierro, the island to which almost all migrants are arriving.

The Spanish Government has shown that EUR 16.8 million will be released to respond to the extraordinary situation in the Canary Islands.

According to the Canaryian autonomic executive, they arrived on the islands from the beginning of the month about 7,400 migrants aboard precarious vessels knew them as ‘pateras’ or ‘cayukos’ that left the west coast of Africa.

Although the flow of vessels on this route is usually intensified in autumn, due to wind and sea conditions this time of year – a phenomenon known locally as “the crisis of the ‘cayuks’” – the number of vessels and migrants arriving in the last week is considered extraordinary.

The president of the regional executive, Fernando Clavijo, today attributed this increase to extraordinary events and circumstances that are being lived in African countries, such as the Dakar Youth Olympics 2026 in Senegal, which removed Senegalese agents from the surveillance of the coast or the election campaign in the Gambia.

Clavijo spoke to journalists in Madrid at the end of a meeting of the regional authorities with an interministerial committee to examine the situation in the Canary Islands and at the end of which the “migratory emergency” in the archipelago was declared.

The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Victor Torres, said that “the migratory phenomenon is cyclical”, but he acknowledged that there was a “relevant increase” in the last week of migrants’ arrivals in the Canary Islands.

According to the minister, 92% of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands are from sub-Saharan countries and many of them will potentially have the right to asylum and international protection, so the declaration of “migratory emergency” also provides for the strengthening of means to speed up these processes and the transfer of these people to other regions of Spain.

The regional government said on Monday that the Canary Islands are in migration emergency and called for urgent assistance to the rest of Spain and the European Union (EU).

Among other things, Fernando Clavijo stressed that the islands urgently need a strengthening of the health response for migrants, namely a campaign hospital in El Hierro.

The regional president also advocated the immediate reinforcement of other means on the ground, together with the activation of European mechanisms for migratory emergency situations and Frontex, the European Border Surveillance Agency.

Fernando Clavijo revealed that he spoke with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and that he requested urgent meetings with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and European Commissioner for Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner.

The president of the regional government said today that he was pleased with the meeting in Madrid, for having responded to all the requests he made to the central executive.

After the first half of this year there was a 67% decrease in the number of arrivals of people on board ‘pateras’ and ‘cayucos’ to the Canary Islands (from 11,321 in 2025 to 3,708), the trend has been reversed since July, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI).

Between July and October 31, the Spanish authorities recorded the arrival in the Canary Islands of 9,619 migrants, with 6,194 in October alone. By 2025, these numbers had been 2,778 and 1,251, respectively.

In the first half of November last year 591 people arrived.