By Sinikka Tarvainen Sep 13, 2006, 16:58 GMT
Madrid - With the large numbers of undocumented African immigrants still arriving in the Canary Islands and showing no sign of abating, the Spanish government has decided to toughen up.
About 23,000 migrants have landed this year on the islands, where riots have erupted in some crowded reception centres, prompting local authorities even to appeal to the United Nations for help.
There will be no more mass amnesties for illegals, and anyone coming to Spain without permission will be sent back out, the government has announced.
Under Spanish pressure, Senegal has started treating its would-be emigrant citizens as criminals, jailing them to prevent them from making repeated attempts to board boats to Spain.
While illegal immigration is a real problem for the Canaries, the Spanish government's change of policy has also been motivated by the media spotlight on the islands which makes the government look powerless against the waves of Africans.
'With this kind of influx, seen daily on television, we need to avoid at any price that immigrants and Spaniards think the government welcomes anyone who wants to come with open arms,' said a source of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party.
The numbers of West and Central Africans arriving in Spain have clearly increased, but they remain only a small minority among an estimated one million undocumented immigrants currently in Spain.
Most of the illegals are Latin Americans flying in and eastern Europeans crossing the French border. Many do not need visas and come as tourists.
But they are not as media-prominent as black migrants landing on touristic beaches in rickety boats after risking their lives in stormy seas.
It is the situation in the Canaries that has put immigration on top of the political agenda, with the conservative opposition accusing the government of being soft on illegals.
They argue that by granting nearly 600,000 illegals residence permits last year, the opposition claimS, the government has sent an implicit invitation to immigrants.
Now Spain has called an urgent meeting of the European Union Mediterranean countries to step up sea and air patrols off West Africa, and has persuaded Senegal to allow it to resume expulsions of Senegalese citizens.
A previous attempt to fly Senegalese back home collapsed in late May after a group of migrants accused Spain of mistreating them during the flight and embarrassed the Senegalese government by staging a protest at Dakar airport.
Spain is also sending immigrants back to Mauritania, Mali and Morocco, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jesus Caldera said.
The difficulty is that while the government needs to make the Spanish public aware of the expulsions, they need to be carried out discreetly in Africa. Repatriation flights usually take place at night.
Spain began Wednesday to expel a group of more than 1,000 Senegalese, with the first flight scheduled to land in Dakar in the early morning hours.
In addition to accepting the repatriations, Senegal has responded to Spain's coaxing and pressure by stepping up the detention of would-be immigrants.
Dakar now regards them as participants in - and not victims of - human trafficking, according to Spanish reports. People attempting to emigrate reportedly face trial and imprisonment for up to two years.
But it was not immediately clear to what extent such measures were being applied.
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