The Spanish Interior Ministry has recorded a 66% increase in the number of people who entered the country illegally in just over seven months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Since the beginning of the year until August 15, 31,155 people have illegally crossed the land and sea border and entered Spain, the Interior Ministry reported on Saturday, quoted by the newspaper “El Pais”. Despite the increase in illegal immigration by 66%, there is a visible slowdown in the number of people entering compared to the first months of the year, the newspaper notes.
The majority of illegal immigrants, approximately 70 percent, arrive in Spain via the Canary Islands; compared to the first months of last year, their number has increased by 126 percent.
Morocco is increasingly controlling the matches, while the challenge now lies further south in Mauritania
– writes “El Pais”.
The newspaper recalls that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to visit this African country at the end of the month to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.
Migrant route
Mauritania and its coastal waters are increasingly on the Atlantic route for residents of the Central Sahel and the Gulf of Guinea region who want to reach the Canary Islands without a visa. This is one of the most dangerous routes taken by migrants in the world. Tragic drownings occur there regularly.
According to the organization Caminando Fronteras, which defends the rights of migrants, around 5,000 people drowned on the Canary Islands route between January and May this year. people.
In addition to a significant increase in immigrants from Mauritania (more than 13,000 people in mid-August, 6,000 the previous year), police sources also note a significant increase in arrivals from Algeria (15%), mainly to the Balearic Islands.
Spain is currently the only Mediterranean country where the number of illegal border crossings is increasing, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), cited by “El Pais”.
evil/PAP
