Surge in Migrant Arrivals Strains Almeria as Spain Grapples with Rising Immigration

The situation has become "unbearable," according to Héctor Gómez, the national coordinator of small boats for the Jupol police union, denouncing the silence of the authorities and the bad role played by NGOs in asking migrants to declare that "they are homosexuals and come from a country at war to avoid being deported." "I can understand that in a small boat with 50 people, there are three, four or five homosexuals, but not all 50. Many of these asylum applications are rejected..." he explains to Ok Diario.

"The problem is that the NGOs are subsidized. The Red Cross receives money from the state. The more it takes care of migrants arriving on small boats, the more money it earns," adds Gómez, specifying that under his supervision, he does not allow any NGO member to talk to the migrants. "Before, we allowed the NGO girls to have access to the cells to talk to the migrants, but now the interview is done from the outside, with one or two police officers present," he details.

To change the situation, the Jupol police union activist believes that "the judges must properly play their role. It is not normal that when identifying the occupants of a small boat, we find that one of them has already come to Almeria five times this year," blaming the justice system for not convicting these human trafficking crimes, despite the existence of clear evidence. Among these migrants arriving in droves are "jihadists and paramilitaries," Gómez warns, alerting that in the next 8 or 10 years, insecurity in Almeria will increase, as the border security forces are overwhelmed. "The small boats come in from one side and the drugs from the other. The Civil Guard agents do not cover the entire coastal area of Almeria and the mafias know it," he warns.

Gómez also notes that "most of the people arrested for theft, assault and mistreatment are foreigners, migrants of Algerian origin who for the most part have no qualifications," stressing that there are more and more criminals on the streets and fewer agents. The agent also points out that the small boats, in addition to increasing their capacity, are becoming more frequent. "10 or 12 years ago, they came from June to October, now they come all year round. The citizen security brigade is working at 200% of its capacity and the agents are very physically and psychologically tired," he says, adding that the Canary Islands, Balearics, Murcia or Alicante are also experiencing the same situation.