The Diplomat
The arrival of irregular migrants in Spain has fallen by 20.5% in the first five months of 2023 compared to the previous year, although there has been a 25.2% increase in irregular entries along the peninsular coast and the Balearic Islands, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior collected by Europa Press.
In total, 10,824 people have entered Spain irregularly so far this year (13,620 in 2022), of which 95.6% (10,348) have done so by sea and 42.2% of these via the coasts of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Specifically, between 1 January and 15 June of this year, 4,369 people entered irregularly via the mainland and the Balearic Islands, compared to 3,491 a year earlier. There has also been an increase of 6.8% in the number of small boats in which these people have reached these coasts: 360 were recorded in 2023, while in the same period in 2022 there were 337.
However, the main route of entry, the Canary Islands, where 57.1% (5,914 people) have arrived, has registered a decrease of 31.5% so far in 2023, with the entry of 8,628 people.
Entries by sea into Ceuta and Melilla are also down compared to last year. In the first autonomous city, the arrival of 22 migrants in an irregular manner has been recorded, compared to 36 between 1 January and 15 June 2022; and in the second, from 63 arrivals a year ago, to 43 so far in 2023.
Ceuta and Melilla also recorded a drop in entries through their land borders. In this case, entries into Melilla have fallen by 94.5%, since last year at this time 954 migrants had entered by this route, while so far this year 52 have been recorded. In Ceuta, meanwhile, they have gone from 448 between 1 January and 15 June 2022 to 424 in the same period in 2023.
