Spain Reports Sharp Drop in Migration After Shift on Western Sahara Policy

In the second half of March, after Pedro Sanchez sent his letter to King Mohammed VI to express Spain’s support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara, only 375 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, compared to 2,302 in February and 3,194 in January, according to La Vanguardia, specifying that in total, 7,319 migrants (4,202 in January and 3,117 in February), mostly Moroccans, arrived in Spain in the first two months of 2022, while there were 4,226 during the same period in 2021, an increase of 73%.

To read: Spain’s Sahara Stance Shift Boosts Border Security Cooperation with Morocco

"The management of migration flows and border control have been one of the cornerstones of the agreement that led Spain to change its position on the Sahara," explains a source close to the negotiations with this media, also denouncing the fact that Morocco was using migration "as a means of pressure" on Spain.

To read: Spain Backs Morocco’s Sahara Plan, Boosting Joint Efforts on Migration Control

The migration issue is so fundamental that even at the height of the crisis, migration cooperation between the two countries was maintained, recalls a Spanish government source. It remains to be seen whether this downward trend will continue after Sanchez’s visit to Morocco this Thursday, the Spanish head of government having already reaffirmed in his letter to Mohammed VI his commitment to cooperate for better "management of migration flows in the Mediterranean and Atlantic".