MADRID (Reuters) – The number of migrants reaching Spain’s Canary Islands on rickety boats from West Africa has increased seven times so far this year compared to the same period in 2023, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. revealed by the data.
A total of 11,704 undocumented migrants arrived in the Atlantic Islands between January 1 and February 15, compared with 1,602 who arrived during the same period in 2023, the ministry said.
If current trends continue, the country could welcome 70,000 migrants this year, following a record 39,910 migrants in 2023, archipelago regional director Fernando Clavijo said on Friday. He told El Pais newspaper.
Spanish authorities say Mauritania has recently become a major departure point for migrants heading to Europe, with eight of the 10 dinghies that arrived on the archipelago in January being sent there.
The EU last week gave Mauritania a 210 million euro ($225 million) package to manage migration, humanitarian aid and youth opportunities.
Clavijo said one of the main challenges will be dealing with the approximately 5,500 migrants under the age of 18 who have arrived, and who cannot be redistributed across Spain as easily as adult migrants. .
On Friday, a Gran Canaria court ordered the release from detention of an immigrant accused of being a dinghy captain who was found to be underage after tests.
Frontex boss Hans Leitens told Reuters last week that the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands was the busiest tramp route into the EU from West Africa, accounting for almost half of the roughly 14,000 total arrivals last month. He said that it accounts for .
Human rights group Walking Borders said 6,007 people lost their lives on this route last year.
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(Reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Aislinn Lane and Frances Kelly)