Migrant centre – but where?

Residents of Güime have rallied against rumours that the town may be the proposed location of an accommodation centre for newly-arrived migrants.

However, despite questions in the Spanish Senate the exact location of a new centre for migrants on Lanzarote remains unclear.

Last September, the Spanish government made a request to San Bartolomé’s Ayuntamiento for planning information relating to a 12,000 square-metre plot of land near the El Polvorín area south of Güime.

The Ayuntamiento informed the government that the plot in question was protected from development by environmental laws. However, when measurements appeared to be being taken at the zone, suspicions once again arose that the government might be planning an accommodation centre for newly-arrived migrants.

San Bartolomé Mayor Isidro Pérez claimed that he had refused permission for the construction of a centre at El Polvorín, although he has no objection to the building of a migrant centre on Lanzarote. Pérez pointed out that San Bartolomé already has a functioning centre for migrants at the foot of Montaña Mina, with room for 400 people.

Meanwhile, Anselmo Pestana, the Spanish Government’s Delegate for Lanzarote, has confirmed that a centre is being planned on Lanzarote. He stated that it would be a transit centre to accommodate migrants until they are transferred to mainland Spain and denied that it would be a “macrocentre” but would be the same size as other installations on the Canaries, such as the Montaña Mina centre.

Nevertheless, Pestana did not confirm the location of the centre, and stated that until now, no agreement had been reached with San Bartolomé.

The affair also has a strong political dimension, with members of the Coalición Canaria seizing the chance to attack the Socialists who rule San Bartolomé, as well as their old rival Ángel Víctor Torres, the Spanish Minister for Territorial Policy who was Canarian President until last May.

Where do migrants go?

Calm weather means that the total of migrants arriving in the first months of 2024 remains extremely high. 7,267 arrived on the Canaries in January this year, more than in the first six months of 2023 and ten times as many as the number who made their way to mainland Spain or the Balearics.

Currently, most newly arrived migrants on Lanzarote are processed at the CATE (Centre for Temporary Attention for Foreigners), a camp behind Arrecife’s police station. Within 72 hours they are relocated to accommodation centres or internment centres elsewhere, almost always off the island.

The accommodation centre in Montaña Mina currently holds women and families, while several unaccompanied minors live in a hostel at Tinajo.