Since December, Spain has organized three weekly flights to Laayoune in order to repatriate some of the migrants who arrived irregularly in the Canary Islands. According to El Confidencial Digital, «the Spanish Interior Ministry called on Royal Air Maroc» to transfer around 60 people every seven days. This week, for example, migrants were deported Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from the Canary Islands to Laayoune. Each flight carries a maximum of 20 migrants, always guarded by twice as many police officers. The same sources add that because of space problems the planes serving both to transport travelers and migrants, the Ministry plans to «charter complete planes for this task in the months to come». The Canary Islands have experienced one of the worst migratory crises in recent months, with the arrival of several hundred migrants from the Moroccan coast. Currently, there are 8,500 people in an irregular situation, including 7,500 accommodated in hotels, according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
