226 illegal immigrants caught in Canary Islands

19 June 2007

MADRID – Spanish authorities caught more than 200 African migrants trying to enter the Canary Islands on three boats, the Red Cross said Tuesday.

One hundred migrants arrived Monday night on the island of Tenerife, and another 94 were picked up after arriving Tuesday morning on Gran Canaria, the Red Cross said. Of the latter, five were treated for hypothermia, the newspaper El Mundo reported.

One minor was aboard a boat carrying 32 people that arrived at Lanzarote, another of the islands in the Spanish archipelago off west Africa.

The Red Cross said the number of migrants arriving on the Canary Islands has increased in recent weeks.

Last year, more than 30,000 immigrants seeking a better life in Europe were intercepted while sailing to the Canaries in crowded boats.

Normally, migrants who arrive on the Canary Islands without papers are detained for 40 days and eventually released without work permits or residency papers if the Spanish authorities are unable to identify them. Migrants who can be identified are deported to their countries of origin.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news