Number of Illegal Immigrants Travelling to Malaga by Boat Has Halved

Number of Illegal Immigrants Travelling to Malaga by Boat Has Halved

Number of Illegal Immigrants Travelling to Malaga by Boat Has Halved. Image: Wikimedia

THE number of illegal immigrants arriving in Malaga by boat has halved.


According to reports, the number of illegal immigrants coming by boat to Malaga has dropped by more than half.
Figures showed the numbers of immigrants arriving in Malaga dropped by 56.3 per cent from 2,150 in 2019 to 941 last year.
According to one publication, the data provided by the Government Sub-delegation in Malaga showed that compared to the 79 boats which were recorded in Malaga in 2019, 49 were recorded in 2020.
Irene Quirante, spokesperson for the Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants in Malaga, which is in charge of helping immigrants who arrive in the province and offers legal support to immigrants, said one of the reasons for the drop in figures has been the pandemic.
However, she said the tightening of controls by the Moroccan authorities on the route to Malaga has also seen those bringing immigrants over to use another route from the Canaries.
She added that the closing of the border between Morocco and Spain in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have also contributed to routes being moved to the Canary Islands.
She said the route in the Mediterranean “has decreased due to the aforementioned control of Morocco.”
Illegal immigration reduced in Malaga even more since 2018, when 112 boats arrived according to government data, with a total of 5,636 immigrants on board.  In 2017, 2,320 arrived in Malaga.
The deputy delegate of the Government in Malaga, Teofilo Ruiz, believes that the work of the Coordination Authority against irregular immigration in the Strait (ACIE) is beginning to take effect.
It was created in 2018, after the large number of illegal immigration that was registered that year. The ACIE coordination centre is in Malaga and Ruiz said: “This is the fundamental mechanism, which, integrated in the Ministry of the Interior, has been assuming the main role of active coordination of the Guardia Civil, National Police, Maritime Rescue and Red Cross.”
He said immigrants were looked after following their arrival in Malaga.

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