Facing a notable rise in arrivals by boat carrying migrants, particularly during October and the first days of November, Minister Nieves Lady Barreto has sent a new letter to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. In it, she calls for the immediate deployment of extraordinary reinforcements from the National Police and the Civil Guard to the island of El Hierro.
This request follows previous petitions from President Fernando Clavijo to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Manus Brunner, and to the President of the central government, Pedro Sánchez. These initiatives seek urgent measures due to the reactivation of the Atlantic route and propose the need for a meeting between both governments to agree on an action plan that defines responsibilities.
According to data from the Canary Islands Government, between November 1st and 6th, 49 boats arrived in the archipelago with approximately 4,587 people, of whom 35 reached El Hierro. In the same period of 2025, only two boats arrived on this island, and eleven in 2024, highlighting the magnitude of the current surge.
Barreto warns of the "extraordinary pressure" this situation places on an island with limited resources and deems it essential for the State to adopt urgent measures. The minister calls for an immediate increase in personnel and material resources to bolster surveillance, identification, custody, and transfer of migrants, as well as collaboration with emergency and assistance services and the normal functioning of public services.
The minister insists on the need for sufficient police presence, adapted to El Hierro's real situation, to avoid overburdening current staff. Furthermore, she recalls that the Canary Islands Government formally requested, on September 10th and October 20th, an urgent meeting of a State-Canary Islands Security Council to analyze the migratory situation and coordinate measures. "Almost two months after the first request, the Ministry of the Interior has still not set a date," she laments.
Barreto considers it unacceptable to have to request "coordination mechanisms that should be functioning normally" and emphasizes that institutional collaboration must translate into concrete actions. Therefore, she requests information from the minister on the measures her department is adopting and urges the immediate deployment of police reinforcements and the convening of the Security Council. "Canarias and El Hierro need an urgent and effective response from the State. The gravity of the situation admits no further delay," concludes the minister.
