Spain Reports 25% Drop in Illegal Migration Following Morocco Agreement

The positive effects of Spain’s change of position on the Sahara are being felt in terms of migratory flow, which recorded a 25.6% decrease in 2022 compared to the previous year. From January 1 to December 31, 2022, 31,219 people illegally entered Spain, including 25,308 from Morocco, compared to 41,945, including 35,514 in 2021, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior to which El Diario had access.

This change in Spain’s position on the Sahara has led to a cooling of relations with Algeria, the support of the Polisario Front, which had raised fears of a massive influx of migrants from Algeria via Almeria, Murcia, Alicante or the Balearic Islands. But, according to Interior data, 6,978 people, mostly Algerians, illegally immigrated using this route, a 25% decrease from the previous year, even though there was an increase in the Balearic Islands (2,668 migrants, or 506 more than in 2021).

This drop in migratory flow is the result of strengthened police cooperation with countries of origin and transit such as Morocco, Mauritania or Senegal, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior assures. "The number is gradually decreasing for four years. Migration phenomena are very complex, but the decrease in arrivals is due to the promotion of relationships of trust with many countries, at several levels," it explains.

The NGO Caminando Frontera and the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) denounce, for their part, an increase in police violence against the migrant population along migration routes such as Nador, Tangier and the Sahara, since the normalization of Morocco-Spain relations. Thus, the migratory flow decreased by 29.7% on the Canary route in 2022. "In the mountains of northern Morocco, there is almost no one. They are transferred to southern Morocco, a more controlled area," explains Helena Maleno, the founder of Caminando Fronteras. According to the NGO’s latest report, 2,390 migrants died trying to illegally enter Spain in 2022.