Illegal immigrants into Spain increase by 51% compared to last year

Illegal immigration into Spain has increased by 51% compared to the same period last year.

The number of illegal immigrants who tried to enter Spain by land and sea until September 30 has increased by 51%, according to data published from the Ministry of The Interior.

Between January 1 and September 30, 2021, a total of 28,729 were counted, over half more than in the same period from the previous year, when 19,024 illegal entries were recorded.

Of these, 47% made it to the Canary Islands, where a total of 13,118 migrants arrived in the islands (116% more than in 2020), while the remaining 13,320 made it to the coasts of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands (18.8% more than a year before).

The number of arrivals by sea to Ceuta has also grown, by a staggering 142%. Between January 1 and September 30 of last year, 286 people arrived in the autonomous city, compared to the 694 that have been counted so far in 2021. On the other hand, arrivals in Melilla fell by 73%: 15 people who arrived in the first nine months of 2020, that has dropped to just 4 this year.

Melilla and Ceuta and recently Almeria in Spain are often seen as a gateway to Europe as migrants struggle to cross over from Africa – many of them fleeing conflict and extreme poverty in sub-Saharan countries, and others increasingly arriving from Syria or Palestine.

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