Illegal Migration to Spain Plummets 51% as Morocco Cooperation Improves

During the first three months of 2023, 4,287 migrants illegally arrived in Spain, by sea or land, compared to 8,727 in the same period of 2022. A halving recorded, largely thanks to the decrease in arrivals of migrants through the Canary Islands, one of the deadliest routes in the world, after the normalization of relations between Spain and Morocco. During this first quarter, only 53 boats carrying migrants arrived via the archipelago, compared to 123 last year, reports La Vanguardia.

According to data published on Monday by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, the downward trend is observed at all land access routes to Spain. But it is less noticeable in the Balearic Islands where 1,841 migrants arrived in 176 boats during the first quarter of 2023, compared to 1,591 in 155 boats in the same period of 2022. The drop in migration flow was really felt in the third quarter of 2022, after Spain’s change of position on the Sahara in March of last year. Since then, this downward trend has been maintained month after month, until reaching its lowest rate at the end of the first quarter of 2023.

In Ceuta and Melilla, migration flows have also decreased. In the first quarter of 2023, 199 migrants arrived in Ceuta by land, 3.9% less than last year, while 21 entered Melilla illegally, 97.7% less than in the first quarter of 2022.