Canarias
More immigrants arrive on Tenerife as Minister says numbers have dropped since last year
By m.p
Jun 6, 2007 - 9:46 PM

As another immigrant boat with 50 passengers on board reached the Tenerife port of Los Cristianos on Wednesday afternoon, the Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, announced in the Senate that immigrant arrivals to the Spanish coast have dropped by 68% up until the end of May this year.

The Minister told the Coalición Canaria Senator, Ricardo Melchior, that there are more than 2,000 places in immigrant reception centres on the Canary Islands, which could be extended in the case of a massive influx.

The Senator’s figures quoted by Europa Press show that the temporary and provisional places on the Islands could reach 6,500, counting for 85% of the total places across Spain.

The Interior Ministry told the Senator the government has had what he described as ‘relative success’ so far in preventing such an avalanche, with new repatriation agreements now in place with a number of countries in North Africa.