Irregular immigration grew by 82% in 2023

This Wednesday, the Ministry of the Interior published data on irregular immigration for 2023. The figures show an increase of 82% in arrivals to Spain and break the downward trend of the last two years. From January to December, 56,852 people arrived outside the authorized border posts, 25,633 more than in the same period in 2022, according to recently published provisional data. That of 2023 is the second highest record in the historical series, only surpassed in 2018, when 64,298 people entered irregularly. Spain is, after Italy, the second European country with the most irregular entries and the second in which the increase in irregular immigration has been most pronounced.

“Immigration is a phenomenon of enormous complexity that is influenced by numerous factors,” sources from the Ministry of the Interior have stressed after the publication of the balance sheet. “Migration pressure will continue to exist at all the EU's external borders, as we also see in Italy, Greece or Cyprus. “The political and social instability in many areas of Africa, and the exponential increase in population and the lack of resources are structural elements that cannot be solved overnight,” said Fernando Grande-Marlaska's department.

The vast majority, 99.2%, of immigrants arrived by sea. The greatest increase is recorded among arrivals to the Canary Islands, with an increase of 154.5% and 39,910 arrivals. To understand the reactivation of the Canary Islands route, at levels not seen since 2006, we must look above all at Senegal, where political and economic factors are pushing its younger population to emigrate on dangerous canoe trips.

The number of vessels also increases, which went from 350 in 2022 to 610 a year later. In the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands the increase was smaller, 19%, with 15,435, and the number of boats decreased, which went from 1,292 to 1,160.

In Ceuta the volume of arrivals by sea decreased (from 124 to 67), but increased in Melilla (from 169 to 206). In the case of arrivals by land to the autonomous cities, fewer migrants entered both Ceuta (from 1,114 to 1,068) and Melilla (from 1,175 in 2022, the year of the massive jump over the fence, to only 166 from last year).

After the publication of the data, the Ministry of the Interior has stressed that its policy of cooperation with countries of origin and transit in the fight against “is working.” And it prevents, according to department data, 40% of irregular departures. This figure, as clarified by the ministry, is a calculation by the State Security Forces and Corps that is based on the average number of people intercepted at origin in Morocco, Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal, as well as migrants who ” “They have been released in operations to dismantle trafficking networks.”

Interior has also once again celebrated the agreement reached during the Spanish presidency of the EU Council on the Migration and Asylum Pact, a text that toughens conditions for asylum seekers and economic immigrants. “It is extraordinarily positive, which gives the EU instruments to promote safe, orderly and regular migration,” maintains the ministry. Asked what these instruments are in a text that does not address the challenges of regular migration routes, Interior points out that “fighting effectively against irregular migration is betting and acting on regular migration.” And he adds: “When we act and dismantle illegal networks, this will be accompanied by policies to support regular immigration, with the aim that they see what the reasonable option is.”

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