The counselor for Presidency, Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, Nieves Lady Barreto, has sent a new missive to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in which she demands the immediate deployment of extraordinary reinforcements of the National Police and the Guardia Civil on the island of El Hierro.
The regional executive adopts this initiative after the notable increase in arrivals of vessels with migrant people recorded in the last weeks, with particular intensity in October and in the first days of November, as the regional department has detailed in a statement.
This request adds to those already made by the Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, both to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Manus Brunner, and to Pedro Sánchez, in which urgent measures are proposed and the holding of an immediate meeting between both Governments is raised, with the participation of the ministries and departments involved, in order to reach agreement on an action plan that specifies the responsibilities of each Administration.
More than 4,500 people arrived so far this month
According to data from the Government of the Canary Islands, between 1 and 6 November, the archipelago has been reached by 49 vessels with around 4,587 people, of which 35 have called at El Hierro. In the same period of 2025, only two vessels arrived at this island, while in 2024 there were eleven.
Barreto warns of the “extraordinary pressure” that this situation creates on an island with “limited” human and material resources, and describes as “essential” that the State adopt urgent and extraordinary measures to ensure an adequate response.
In the letter, the counselor calls for an immediate reinforcement of personnel and material resources of the State Security Forces and Corps, in order to enhance the tasks of surveillance, identification, custody and transfer of migrant people, in addition to coordination with emergency and assistance services and maintaining the ordinary operation of public services.
The regional official emphasizes that the State must get ahead of needs and guarantee sufficient, stable police presence in line with the reality that El Hierro is experiencing, preventing the pressure derived from arrivals from falling on agents who already bear an extraordinary workload.
Likewise, Barreto reminds the holder of the Ministry of the Interior that the Government of the Canary Islands has expressly requested, through written submissions sent on 10 September and 20 October, the urgent convening of a State-Canary Islands Security Board in order to examine the migration situation, exchange information, and coordinate the necessary actions.
Almost two months after the first request, the regional Executive points out, the Ministry of the Interior has still not set a date for the holding of that meeting, despite the fact that the scenario that prompted those warnings has deteriorated notably.
The ministerial councillor maintains that "it is not acceptable" for the Government of the Canary Islands to continue demanding coordination mechanisms that "should be operating normally" and emphasizes that cooperation and institutional loyalty have to be reflected in "specific decisions and actions".
In this vein, she asks the minister to detail the measures that his department is applying and intends to apply, and also to proceed with the immediate deployment of police reinforcements and convene the Security Board without further delays. "Canarias and El Hierro need an urgent and effective response from the State. The seriousness of the situation does not allow for any more delays," the ministerial councillor concluded in her letter.