At the same time, there might be just as many, likely more, Senegalese of the same age pestering those same tourists for a couple francs so they can buy dinner.

It’s a hard life.  Nothing is certain and there is little hope that things will get better.  Looking to get away from the hardships, thousands of young West Africans break for the Canary Islands, several thousands of kilometres away.

But this is no vacation.  It’s not a pleasant journey along the African coast.  And they’re not going to work on their tans on one of Tenerife’s sandy beaches.  The Canary Islands is just a stopover before they continue on to their final destination – Europe.

African immigrants in Albacete, Spain. Photo courtesy of Manuel Atienzar

“People (in West Africa) don’t have much in opportunities or money,” said Kirin Kalia, editor of the Migration Information Source website based in Washington D.C.  “Those are in Europe and they’ll go to great lengths to get there.”

The Canary Islands has been overflowing with illegal immigrants seeking a better life in Europe because it serves as a good entry point to its European administrator, Spain.

Those young Africans leaving their homelands – including Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau - can’t be blamed for taking such a dangerous journey.  Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade’s once insisted that the youth to stay in Senegal to see their country develop, but he hasn’t provided any incentive for them to stay.

Jobs to fill

The CIA World Factbook puts Senegal’s unemployment rate at 42 per cent.  There are no numbers for Gambia and Guinea-Bissau but it has been described as high.  Unemployment also isn’t restricted to the low-skilled and uneducated.  Even many university graduates end up in the “non-formal” sector of work, hawking items on the streets.

Meanwhile, European countries that had been sources of emigrants to the New World are now seen as good destinations for new immigrants.

“The pressures for leaving Europe have gone down,” said Dane Rowlands, a migration expert from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.  “The living standards have gone up.  The conflict has disappeared.  There’s a high earnings potential and unemployment isn’t a big issue.”

These countries also have an incredible demand for low-skilled labourers.  Spain, along with other Mediterranean nations such as Italy and Greece, has big labour gaps in areas such as farming that Africans are looking to fill.

 Ignoring the dangers associated with rafting across the ocean to make it to Europe – last October, 150 Senegalese drowned off the coast of Morocco on their way to Spain – illegal migrants from Africa have taken advantage of southern Europe’s difficult to guard border to enter the continent, find a job and make a living there.

Spain, recognizing the need for workers in various sectors of its workforce, has made it easier for the migrants to stay.

“Rather than pay people to smuggle them or risk coming on rickety boats on dangerous waters, just make it legal,” Kalia said.  “That’s shocking as an American.”

Much to the chagrin of its neighbours in the European Union, Spain granted amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants from Africa and other regions of the world.  These “extraordinary regularisation processes” meant the Spanish government recognized the presence of the illegal immigrants and allowed them to stay.  This happened several times, starting in 1991.  The last time was in 2005 when amnesty was given to 568,000 migrants, according to Joaquin Arango, a migration scholar from the University of Madrid.

Several issues rise out of this Spanish policy.  For starters, the European Union’s open borders make it easy for anyone who had entered Spain to leak into neighbouring countries.

“The problem is these people may not stay in Spain,” said Carleton University professor David Long, whose research interests include the European Union.  “However strict the UK is or Ireland or Poland or whoever, in terms of admitting these migrants, Spain has naturalized them.  They’re here.”

Long also said different standards in terms of immigration policies across EU countries make it hard for everybody to simply let Spain do this regularly.  Once Spain recognizes them as legal immigrants, they are free to go anywhere in the EU.

“If there’s a difference in standards across the European Union and there’s open borders, then it doesn’t take much of a thought process to realize that there could be, and will be, entry into the softest, easiest entry point and then people will move within the Union.”

The language of labour

Another glaring issue is how well would African migrants integrate into European society.  The three African countries Spain made an agreement with to bring migrants over are not Spanish speaking countries.  Gambia has English as one of its official languages.  Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony.  Senegal is French-speaking nation.  It would seem that anybody coming from these three countries might not fit too well in Spain.

However, it can be argued that the language barrier is insignificant depending on who’s coming in and what kind of work they find.  Kalia said many of migrants get in touch with friends and family to help them find a job and a place to stay.  Being with familiar people and working in particular areas means they can live perfectly fine without learning the language.

“If you’re going to pick tomatoes in a field, who cares if you can speak Spanish?” Kalia said.

Integration goes beyond learning the language.  Traditionally, European countries have carried an assimilation ideology, expecting people from other countries to become, more or less, a full member of that society.  Beyond integration, it may be hard for citizens to accept the newcomers, especially since they were illegal immigrants at one time.

It creates an interesting dynamic in the EU where member nations are still trying to figure out if they want a policy like Spain’s to continue.  The EU has been able to successfully integrate many of its policies but internal security and migration are still up in the air.

“I think (the EU) are kind of at a crossroads,” said Rowlands.  “How can they make these societies work in the presence of multiple cultural influences?  I think there’s a recognition that the assimilation policy they wanted simply hasn’t worked as well as they wanted.  But they realize they can’t simply cut off migration because of demographic issues.  If it weren’t for migration in-flows into Europe, their population would be declining.”

And of course, the Spanish government can allow thousands of illegal immigrants to stay and work but it’s not certain that Spanish citizens will be as welcoming.  Kalia, from the Migration Information Source, said there are concerns over vigilantes rounding up illegal workers and shipping them off.  Their social security is also questionable as it’s obvious to many experts that these immigrants are treated unfairly compared to native Europeans.

Risking it in Europe is still better than staying home for most people coming out of West Africa.  It is more difficult these days.  EU countries have tightened security especially along the coastline and made agreements to send illegal immigrants back to the country where they originally entered.  Plus, it’s believed that economic deceleration will mean less demand for labour and less opportunities for any potential migrants.

But European policies won’t change the desperation felt in the source countries in West Africa.  Less people will arrive in Europe because of the upgraded security efforts.  The lack of opportunities in Africa, however, won’t stop the young migrant workers from trying to find a way in.

“These problems in West Africa and trying to get to the Canary Islands will continue but in diminished numbers,” said Arango of the University of Madrid.