By the end of June, a total of 13,263 people had reached Spain irregularly, representing 4,037 fewer migrants than in 2018, when on July 1, 17,300 people had arrived.
Arrivals of immigrants irregularly to Spain in the first six months of 2019 have fallen by 23.3 percent over the same period of 2018. As reflected in the last immigration balance, by the end of June they have reached Spain irregularly a total of 13,263 people, representing 4,037 less migrants than in 2018, when on July 1 had reached 17,300 people.
This decrease occurs especially in irregular entries by sea. In this first semester, 10,475 migrants arrived in Spain through this route, while in the same period of 2018, 14,426 migrated, representing a decrease of 27.4 percent.
This trend is also maintained if only arrivals are compared during the months of June: 2,798 in this month of 2019, compared to 6,187 in June 2018. With these data, Spain is in this first half of the year at levels similar to those of of 2017, when in June a total of 2,682 irregular entries were registered throughout the country.
Measures taken
Following the guidelines set by the President of the Government, since June of last year, the Ministry of the Interior has implemented various measures in response to the arrival of immigrants to the Spanish coasts, both to control irregular immigration and to pay attention to migrants.
Based on these same guidelines of the Government of Spain, the acting Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has bet since his arrival to the post for cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of immigration and, for this reason, has traveled in just under a year to various countries in Africa to hold working meetings with local authorities. Grande-Marlaska has moved to Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. The trip to these last four sub-Saharan countries has been the first to have been carried out by a Spanish interior minister.
In this line of cooperation, we must emphasize the strengthening of bilateral relations with Morocco, a preferred partner for Spain that is doing an effective job in the control of irregular immigration to Spain from its territory. The police of both countries have also increased their cooperation in the fight against trafficking networks and have dismantled criminal organizations in Morocco and Spain.
Another measure adopted, in August 2018, was the creation of the Coordination Authority for actions to address irregular immigration in the Strait area, the Alboran Sea and adjacent waters. This agency coordinates from its operational center in Malaga the actions of various Ministries to optimize the resources allocated to the control of irregular immigration.
Also noteworthy is the reinforcement of joint police teams that play an important role in their fight against the mafias that traffic with human beings. To date, and since 2006, Spain and Mauritania cooperate effectively in the Joint Research Team (ECI) of Nouadhibou. In addition, Spain leads the European project ECI Niger, along with France and works on other similar projects in various West African countries.
From the Government of Spain has defended and promoted within the European Union a common coordinated migration policy, solidarity and based on cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination of immigration.