The president of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, said on Monday that the regional executive is mulling taking legal action against the Spanish state over Madrid’s alleged abandonment of its responsibility to try to solve the serious migration crisis affecting that community.

Clavijo – leader of the centre-right Coalición Canaria party – proposed, among other measures, to open a “legal debate” over what he said was Madrid’s “neglect of its functions” in the face of a serious migration crisis.

Irregular migrant arrivals from Africa reached record levels in Spain in the first two weeks of August with increases of 126% in the Canary Islands and 143% in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in northern Africa. A large number of them come from Mauritania and the Sahel region, hard hit by drought and famine.

“In the case of the Canary Islands, it (the Spanish state) is neglecting its functions. I don’t know whether the Spanish government is clear about this or not. I am clear that the Spanish government is abandoning the Canary Islands, and that is something that must be conveyed,” Clavijo told public broadcaster Canarias Radio.

The Canary Islands are governed by a tripartite executive formed by Coalición Canaria, the regional wing of the Spanish People’s Party (Partido Popular/EPP) – the main opposition force in the parliament – and the local AHI party.

Clavijo’s criticism is directed at the national coalition government of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the left-wing Sumar platform for what he sees as insufficient attention to the complex management of the reception of unaccompanied minor migrants.

Until the end of 2024, the Canary Islands will have to deal with “one emergency after another emergency,” he warned, with all its reception centres for minors already “oversaturated” and several of them “over 200%” of their capacity.

He also cited NGO forecasts predicting an exponential increase in the arrivals of irregular migrants to the region before the year ends.

Meanwhile, last week, Sánchez made an official trip to Mauritania, Gambia, and Senegal, three of the main countries of origin for migrants heading to the Canary Islands via the dangerous Atlantic route.

The Spanish PM and leader of the PSOE signed agreements with these countries to promote regular migration in the form of circular migration, sparking controversy with the PP when Sánchez spoke of the need to repatriate irregular migrants.

Irregular migration is one of the big hot potatoes of the political rentrée in Spain, with the right-wing PP and the far-right VOX, the third force in the national parliament, together with the new ‘ultra’ party SALF, of agitator Alvise Pérez, radically at odds with the left camp.

Clavijo also warned of the constant arrivals of precarious boats (popularly known as cayucos or pateras) to the island of El Hierro.

Sumar attacks the PSOE on migration

“This weekend, there has been a before and after, with pressure and threats from the state to NGOs to take in minors without being able to guarantee them proper care,” Clavijo warned.

The head of the regional executive thanked on X the “gestures” of solidarity, such as Sánchez’s trip to Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, but pointed out that these “gestures must be accompanied by political action or they will be useless”.

One of the high points of the clash between the left and right-wing camps is the government’s proposal to reform the law on foreigners (Ley de Extranjería) to activate a compulsory reception mechanism for unaccompanied migrant minors in Spain’s 19 regions.

Meanwhile, Sumar urged the PSOE on Monday to rectify its position on the hot migration dossier after the Spanish PM last week left the door open to the repatriation of irregular migrants.

At a press conference in Madrid, the Sumar’s Secretary of Communication, Elizabeth Duval, said that Sánchez’s drift of recent weeks is “extraordinarily worrying,” while pointing out that not only is the PP “increasingly radicalised but [also] that the PSOE has decided to go down this path.”

“Copying the recipe of the right and the far right only benefits the ultra-right,” Duval warned.

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