The Diplomat
At least 41,632 immigrants arrived irregularly in Spain throughout 2021 by sea and land, representing an increase of just 0.4% over the 41,468 in 2020, according to the provisional balance of the Ministry of the Interior for the period between January 1 and December 28. This increase contrasts sharply with that of the previous year, which was around 30% over 2019.
By sea, a total of 39,835 people arrived in Spain in 2021 in 2,146 vessels, with an increase of only 0.1% in terms of the number of people and a decrease of 1.4% in terms of vessels.
However, the data show some differences between the Canary Islands and the rest of the country. The archipelago received in 2021 a total of 22,200 people (just 2.1% more compared to 2020) and 540 vessels (down by no less than 27.2% compared to 742 the previous year). On the other hand, for the mainland and the Balearic Islands, the figures are 16,991 people, up 2.6% over the 16,560 of the previous year, and 1,476 vessels, with an increase of 13.4% over the 1,302 of 2020. Also by sea, Ceuta received 605 people in 2021 (an increase of 20.3%) and Melilla only 39 people (a decrease of 12%).
In the autonomous cities, the largest increase was in entries by land, with 1,797 people, up 7.3% from 1,674 the previous year. However, the differences between the two cities are evident, as Ceuta received a total of 705 people in 2021, an increase of no less than 164% over the 267 in 2020. In contrast, Melilla received more people (1,092), but the figure shows a clear decrease of 22.4% compared to the 1,407 of the previous year.
Ceuta was the main scene of the serious diplomatic crisis that broke out last April between Spain and Morocco because of the alleged irregular entry into Zaragoza of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali. On May 17, nearly 9,000 people entered Ceuta, swimming or on foot, after the Moroccan police temporarily eased border controls. At least 1,200 of these people were unaccompanied minors, of whom about 700 are still in Spain awaiting return to Morocco.
