Spain will send more police to Senegal to curb illegal migration

FOREIGN Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya has said that Spain will send more police to Senegal to try to curb illegal migration.

In an announcement made on Sunday, November 22, the Foreign Minister backed plans to tackle criminal networks behind an upsurge in illegal migration from Senegal by increasing Spanish police presence.

Following a meeting with her counterpart in the Senegalese capital Dakar, Gonzalez Laya told reporters that Spain will also broaden the social security rights of Senegalese residents legally residing in Spain to encourage would-be migrants to pursue regular channels instead of searching for illegal ways to enter the country.

Around 17,000 migrants have landed on the Canary Islands this year, a more than 1,000 percent increase from 2019, driven by economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Gonzalez Laya said the presence of Guardia Civil and Policia Nacional officers will be reinforced to stop human trafficking gangs in both countries.

The Guardia Civil has worked with the Senegalese Coast Guard since 2006 to intercept and deter migrants from undertaking the perilous Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa which, according to reports, has seen more than 400 people from Senegal die attempting the passage since the beginning of October alone.

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