The number of irregular migrants in Spain has continued to decline in the first months of 2023, after 2022 saw the lowest number of clandestine entries since 2017. According to the latest biweekly report from the Ministry of the Interior, between January 1 and April 15, 2023, a total of 5,208 migrants entered the country irregularly, 44% less than in the same period in 2022, when there were 9,302. This decrease has occurred both in entries by sea (which have decreased by 39.2%) and at land borders (where the reduction has been 77%), especially in the Canary route, where the number of entries has fallen by 62.2%. On the other hand, the report indicates an increase in the number of arrivals to the coasts of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, where 2,516 entries have been recorded, 48.4% more than the previous year.
Although the report does not establish a direct relationship, the greater control exercised by Morocco over the departure of migrants from its territory after the reconciliation with Spain at the beginning of 2022 has, to a large extent, contributed to the fall in the Canary route. Even so, statistical swings can be influenced by multiple factors, such as the state of the sea, which can cause a spike or a drop in departures to the sea over short periods of time. The decline in irregular immigration in 2022 was linked in part, but not only, to the increased control exercised by Moroccan authorities over its Atlantic coast. The collaboration of the authorities of other countries, such as Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, or Algeria, to prevent the departure of immigrants from their coasts was also highlighted.
On the other hand, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has visited Melilla, where 10 months ago at least 23 immigrants died when they tried to enter Spain through the border post of Barrio Chino. Grande-Marlaska has defended the work of the Civil Guard against the criticism that the second vice president of the government, Yolanda Diaz, made this Sunday in a television interview about its role in the tragedy.