Spain: Madrid welcomes a quarter of illegal immigration in one year

The President of the Spanish Government Pedro Sánchez at a press conference in Madrid, Tuesday December 27, 2022 (photo illustration).

AP - Paul White

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In 2022, illegal immigration fell by 25.6% in Spain, from 41,945 entries in 2021, to 31,219 at the end of the year just ended.

The government of Pedro Sánchez welcomes this and recognizes that the main reason lies in its better relationship with Morocco.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

Andalusian coast, Ceuta, Balearic and Canary archipelagos... Almost everywhere, in all the regions through which undocumented migrants pass massively, the reduction is quite spectacular from one year to the next.

The most significant fall is observed in the Canary Islands, where 6,634 fewer migrants have landed on the coast of these islands, in particular Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.

The socialist government of Pedro Sánchez attributes this significant drop to two main factors: the improvement in the fight against the mafias and cooperation with Morocco.

He could also invoke the work of Frontex, the European police around the external borders.

But without a doubt, the improvement of relations with the Moroccan neighbor was decisive.

In the spring of 2022, Madrid completely changed

, claimed by Rabat, and supported the Moroccan position, despite the anger of the right-wing opposition.

Since then, migratory pressure on Spain has remained just as strong, if not more so, but Moroccan deployment and efficiency are much more evident, which has resulted in a drop in the number of migrants entering Spanish soil.

►Read again: Morocco: a report criticizes the sentencing of migrants after the events in Melilla

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