Crowding, unsanitary conditions: in the airport her Madrid an unprecedented number has been collected of Africans asylum seekers, forcing the Spanish government to issue emergency visas and prompting the Red Cross to withdraw in protest.

Originally from Senegal, Morocco, Somalia, Mali, Kenya and Mauritania, hundreds of irregular migrants have flooded the Barajas airport in recent weeks, where they wait in full halls and dormitories to ask asylum or to be deported.

Only him January, 864 asylum seekers were registered at the airport, i.e. more than the total of 2022 (767), according to official figures.

“Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions have reached a critical levelwith the appearance of bed bugs, the accumulation of waste”, people forced “to sleep on inflatable mattresses or (…) to share beds”complained the Spanish Committee to Aid Refugees (CEAR), a non-governmental organization with a presence at the airport.

Having exceeded their limits, authorities recently failed to stop 17 people to escape by breaking a window, a police source pointed out. Six people also tried, in vain, to escape through a suspended ceiling.

Moreover, rare event, the Red Cross decided last week to withdraw from the airportas he was unable to work in these conditions, said Jose Javier Sanchez, his spokesman.

Intermediate stop

Having a plane ticket in their possession “for Latin American countries where no visa is required”these irregular migrants apply for asylum when they make a stopover in Madrid, explained a representative of the SUP union.

Most have already thrown their papers on the plane or declare themselves minors to avoid immediate deportation, he added. In fact, they often ask for asylum claiming to be from a country at war, he explained.

The current situation is due, according to CEAR, to delays in processing asylum applications. By the end of January only 182 migrants had registered, the NGO pointed out, with the rest having to wait several weeks.

Although the number of asylum seekers at the airport has been increasing since the summer, the increase in their number has been exponential since the end of 2023 and at the end of December three judges sounded the alarm about the lack of sanitary conditions and “the lack of food” in the rooms where they live.

The Ombudsman of Spain went to the spot on January 19 and asked the government to take measures so that “to respect fundamental rights” of these people.

From her side The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today denounced the absence of “decent conditions” and demanded “immediate solutions” from the Spanish authorities.

Transit visa

Under pressure, Spain’s interior ministry opened on Tuesday, January 30, another lounge, increasing the airport’s capacity by 47%and assured that he proceeded with the necessary “disinfections” to deal with the spread of insects.

Alongside in an effort to limit the influx of immigrantsthe Spanish government adopted from January 19 new transit visas for Senegalese passing through Spanish airports and from January 20 for Kenyans.

Spain is one of the main entry points for irregular migrants in Europe. Last year 56,852 people entered the country illegally, a figure almost double (+82.1%) compared to 2022, as a record number of migrants arrived in the Canary Islands.