The entry of irregular immigrants into Spain continues to fall. In the first three months of the year, the migrants who have entered the country – either by sea or land – are half of those who did so last year in the same period: 4,287 compared to 8,727, almost 51 % less This downward trend is marked by the decline experienced in the last year – since Spain and Morocco reconciled – the so-called Canary route, one of the deadliest in the world, through which they have reached the archipelago shores 53 vessels in the first quarter, as opposed to the 123 that arrived in 2022.
According to the data published yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior, all routes of access to Spain continue to decrease, except for one: that of entries by sea to the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. 1,841 people have arrived on 176 boats from January 1 to March 31, while in the same months of 2022 1,591 arrived on 155 shepherds. In total, 250 more people.
In the first quarter of 2022, when relations between Madrid and Rabat were practically dead, irregular immigration was rampant. The Canary route reached stratospheric data, with the suspicion that the neighboring country had intentionally relaxed police surveillance to fight against mafias that traffic in human beings. It was in the middle of March, after the Copernican turn that the Spanish Government proposed regarding the question of the Sahara, when the reconciliation with Morocco was sealed. From then on, the statistics began to reverse, until the year ended with a general decline.
This drop, according to official data from the ministry, continues to be experienced month by month, until at the end of March there were 50.9% fewer irregular arrivals. The ministry headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska has displayed the data being recorded in recent months. Marlaska has defended in Brussels the importance of good relations with the countries of origin for police cooperation in the fight against criminal organizations, pending the long-awaited asylum pact being negotiated within the European Union.
In the first quarter, 199 people entered Ceuta by land, 3.9% less than last year, and 21 in Melilla, 97.7% less than in 2022, when the two massive jumps were recorded on the fence, which coincided with the concretization of the details of the letter that President Pedro Sánchez sent to King Mohamed VI asking him to “build a new relationship that avoids future crises”, in exchange for the coup on autonomy of the Sahara
