Some 1,600 immigrants have illegally arrived in Spain in the first 15 days of this year
A total of 1,604 migrants have arrived in Spain irregularly in the first two weeks of 2022 according to the latest data released by the Ministry of the Interior, the highest figure recorded in this period since 2019, when more than 3,000 entries were registered. This is also a 16.5% increase compared to the beginning of last year.
Of the total arrivals between January 1 and 16, the majority have travelled by sea: 1,585 in 90 small boats, which represents an increase of 27%. In contrast, since tighter security measures were introduced, only 19 immigrants managed to cross the land borders at the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
The most striking difference in numbers has occurred in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
So far this year, 790 migrants have arrived on the Canary coast, a significant decrease of 26.1% compared to the more than 1,000 that had already reached the archipelago in the first days of 2021. On the other hand, the Ministry has registered a staggering increase of 346% in irregular arrivals to the Balearics and the rest of the country’s coast.
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Source: Murcia Today
