Irregular arrivals of immigrants to the peninsula and the Balearic Islands –in small boats from the Algerian coast– have increased by 28.9% in the first four months of the year compared to 2022. The latest balance on irregular immigration made public yesterday by the The Ministry of the Interior puts black on white how the mafias that traffic in people are looking for alternatives to the increase in Moroccan police control on its Atlantic façade, which has served to reduce the Canary route by 51.5%.
From the ministry directed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, they are closely following the increase that has been experienced in the last four months, although at the moment they do not consider it “worrying”. So far this year, 254 boats have arrived on the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, 17.0% more than last year. 2,954 people traveled in them compared to the 2,291 who did so in the same period in 2022.
Ministerial sources rule out that this increase is due to alleged reprisals by Algeria after the rapprochement between Spain and Morocco that was sealed a year ago after months of diplomatic crisis. “Algeria does not instrumentalize migration as a political weapon,” they say. In the Interior they assure that this increase is due to the fact that the usual rise in arrivals that usually occurs every year in the months of May and June has been brought forward this year due to the good weather conditions in April that have caused good navigability. This is used by the mafias to launch boats into the sea.
Regarding arrivals by land to the autonomous cities, in the first four months 273 people jumped the border perimeter in Ceuta, 17.7% less than last year; and 38 in Melilla, 95.9% less than in 2022, when there were two massive jumps over the fence
