African migrants from the Las Raices camp in La Laguna watch a plane take off at Tenerife North Airport, on the island of Tenerife, Spain, October 25, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
VALVERDE, Spain (Reuters) - El Hierro, a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, is Europe's latest frontline in the struggle to cut irregular migration. Nearly twice as many migrants as residents have landed this year on the southernmost of Spain's Canary Islands.
On a Sunday in late October, a group of 30 teenagers from Mali and Senegal, some in soccer shirts with headphones around their necks, ambled across a deserted town square in the capital Valverde. A few locals watched silently.
