El Hierro: Spain’s Canary Island drawing African migrants

In the bars of the La Frontera municipality, the second largest town in El Hierro Island, the phrase ” Que lleguen bien,” meaning “may they arrive safely,”echoes through the walls.
Located at the southwestern tip of the Canary Islands archipelago bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, which consists of seven islands belonging to Spain, El Hierro has been a regular choice destination for African migrants.
Francis Mendoza, the coordinator of an association of Civil Protection volunteers, sips a beer in Winnit bar, on the well-known Tigaday Street. Mendoza is accompanied by Omar, a young man from Gambia, and Aliu, of Senegalese origin. They are closely monitoring the arrivals of the cayucos (boats carrying migrants).
Figures from the Spanish Interior Ministry show that in 2023, at least 14,535 people arrived on the island of El Hierro in 154 boats. That’s equivalent to an average of 40 people daily on an island with 278 km², hosting around 12,000 inhabitants.
In 2024, boat arrivals continue to increase. The numbers show an average of 45 people each day. The island’s residents, known as ‘herrenos’, told DW they expect an increase in the number of people arriving in September.
In just ten days of August, 1,007 people arrived. Among the migrants’ nationalities are Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Juan Miguel Padron Brito is the Mayor of the municipality of El Pinar and remembers those chaotic times when the small island had to face the massive arrival of migrants for the first time.
“There were people who complained, with good reason, because there were, for example, three of us in the room to be attended by the doctors in the health center, a migrant boat arrived and all the health workers moved to attend it and the three of us were left without health services”, Brito told DW.
However, El Hierro is an oasis of solidarity in an increasingly closed and hostile Europe towards migrantssearching for a better life and future.
“The sea is very calm. It’s very strange,” Mendoza said. “I only hope they arrive safely’, he said with concern.
In El Hierro, most people are welcoming; some even offer a space in their homes to care for those who have arrived. Migrants generally spend around five days in El Hierro before they are transferred to Tenerife Island.

“Here we are fine and happy. We want to stay on the island”, Abdu told DW. He arrived from Senegal 11 months ago and is now a community member.
Teseida, a mother of two boys and her husband, arrived 11 months ago from Senegal with other family members. They raised enough money to buy a boat and set sail into the uncertainty of the sea.
On disembarking, the Spanish police accused the father of the minors of being the “patron” of the boat, which makes him liable to the crime of human trafficking for profit.
Whenever a migrant boat arrives, the authorities look for someone responsible, even if, in this case, he was not a smuggler. Now, he is being held in prison in Tenerife, awaiting trial.
Every month, Teseida takes the children to the neighboring island to visit their father, as she considers it essential for the boys to have contact with him.
Omar, a young Gambian, arrived in a boat from Senegal 12 months ago as a minor. However, bone tests determined that he was an adult, so he was forced to leave the center.
Luckily for him, Francis Mendoza, head of the Civil Protection volunteers, gave him a place of refuge. Today, the young man works as a volunteer in the Orange Heart organization, an example of how migrants seek an everyday life.
“We are all very attached to Omar, especially in my group, Corazon Naranja,” Mendoza said. “We took him in when he arrived on the island a year ago. Since then, we have created a very strong relationship with him.”
Omar now assists in the reception of new migrants arriving on the island. He takes care of the new arrivals with his colleagues as they enter the CATE ( Temporary Attention Centre for Foreigners), guarded by the National Police. The center is responsible for carrying out registration and identification procedures for people who enter the country irregularly.
Local sources in El Hierro believe that at least 75,000 people are expected to try to reach Europe through the Canary Islands route.
Faced with the imminent increase in the number of boats arriving on the small island, one wonders whether the solidarity of the locals has a limit or is inexhaustible.
“No, no, in El Hierro, that doesn’t happen,” Francis from Corazon Naranja said. The Herreno may be tired, out of breath, but until his last breath, until his last drop, he will be giving everything to help, in this case, in the migration.” 
Editor: Chrispin Mwakideu