2024-01-12 02:37:55
Irregular migration in Spain by sea and land has increased, with a total of 56,852 migrants, 82.1% in 2023 compared to the previous year, when 31,219 people arrived irregularly (25,633 more people), according to the five-year balance from the Ministry of the Interior, published this Wednesday, January 3.
This increase is especially due to the absolute record of irregular arrivals to the Canary Islands, where 39,910 migrants arrived, which is 154.5% more than in 2022, when 15,682 people arrived irregularly (24,228 more). Although arrivals to the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands by sea have also increased, the rise has not been as pronounced as in the Canary Islands.
Specifically, in 2023 a total of 15,435 people arrived irregularly to the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, 19.1% more than in 2022, when 12,995 migrants arrived (2,480 more).
In this way, 2023 has become the second year with the most irregular arrivals to Spain, after 2018, when 64,298 were registered. However, it has been the first in which the largest number of people have arrived in the Canary Islands, even surpassing 2006, with the well-known ‘cayuco crisis’ (31,678).
The 55,618 migrants who arrived in Spain in 2023 by sea arrived in 1,817 boats, which is 6.6% more than in 2022 (1,704 boats). However, although the number of migrants arriving in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands increased (from 12,995 in 2022 to 15,435 in 2023), the number of boats that arrived decreased by 10.2% (from 1,292 in 2022 to 1,160 in 2023). .
Therefore, the total increase in the number of vessels that arrived in Spain is due to the cayucos that arrived in the Canary Islands, where 610 vessels arrived in 2023, 74.3% compared to 2022, when 350 vessels arrived.
For its part, arrivals to Ceuta by sea decreased by 46%, going from 124 arrivals in 2022 to 67 arrivals in 2023, while arrivals to Melilla increased by 21.9% (from 169 in 2022 to 206 in 2023). By land, the total number of migrants arriving in Ceuta and Melilla was reduced by 46.1%, since in 2022 2,289 people arrived irregularly by land and in 2023 arrivals have been reduced to 1,234 (1,055 less).
More than 7,200 people intercepted in Senegal heading to the Canary Islands
After knowing these data, sources from the Ministry of the Interior have recalled that in just two months, between October 18 and December 18, 2023, the deployment of the Civil Guard in Senegal, in collaboration with the Senegalese security forces, intercepted Senegal and Gambia more than 7,200 people and 59 boats heading to the Canary Islands, which means that “almost 50% of the migratory pressure out of these two countries has been stopped at origin.”
From the Department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, they defend that migration “is a phenomenon of enormous complexity that is influenced by numerous factors” and highlight that migratory pressure “will continue to exist” at all the external borders of the European Union, as observed also in Italy, Greece or Cyprus. The political and social instability in many areas of Africa, the exponential increase in population and the lack of resources are structural elements that, according to Interior, “are not solved overnight.”
To address this situation, he emphasizes that Spain has been promoting a migration policy for five years based on bilateral cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of migration in the fight against mafias that traffic in people, an action that, according to the Ministry, “is working and prevents 40% of irregular departures at source.”
EU migration pact
Likewise, Interior has highlighted the recent European Migration Pact signed under the Spanish presidency of the European Union, which “builds a better Europe, stronger and more supportive.” Precisely, he emphasizes that this is an “extraordinarily positive” agreement, which gives instruments to the European Union to promote safe, orderly and regular migration.
The pact explicitly incorporates and for the first time, mandatory formulas of solidarity with the States of first entry for migration, such as Spain, those most affected by migratory pressure at the EU’s external borders.
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