No Room At The Inn

Already on Monday, there were 5,461 immigrants in Canary Island retention centres, with another 700 temporarily housed in National Police buildings in south Tenerife - far in excess of the current capacity for 5,446 people.

I missed how many arrived on Monday, however, another 898 immigrants arrived yesterday, Tuesday. An emergency plan is being drawn up to alleviate the critical problem, in particular a plan to evacuate 20,000 from the archipelago to the mainland, if arrivals continue at their current pace.

However, irregular immigration from Africa, says a Diario de Avisos story, has turned the Canary Islands into a "damn that is about to burst" and, I am quite certain they mean emotionally, as well as logistically.

Also yesterday, the Canary Island Parliament held an extraordinary session to discuss the problem, but as this Diario de Avisos headline says, "Parliament showed themselves incapable of reaching an agreement over immigration." After five hours of debate, it sounds like it turned into a slanging match of finger pointing in the lead up to the municipal elections in May 2007.

2,500 illegal immigrants reach the Canary Islands since Thursday
Los centros de retencíón canarios se encuentran de nuevo desbordados
Madrid ultima un plan para evacuar a 20.000 inmigrantes
Un total de 898 inmigrantes llegaron el martes en cayuco a Canarias
El Parlamento se muestra incapaz de llegar a un acuerdo en inmigración