In February, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez still believed in a major breakthrough in combating illegal immigration. During a visit to Mauritania, he announced, together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, financial aid of 510 million euros for the West African country. Of this amount, the EU is contributing 300 million, with Spain covering the rest. These funds were intended to promote economic development and, above all, improve border security. Mauritania, alongside Senegal, is one of the countries from which a particularly large number of boat migrants have crossed to the Canary Islands in recent years.
However, the deal, which was celebrated with great enthusiasm, has yielded little, if not the opposite. From January to mid-August alone, 22,304 people arrived in Spain by sea, more than doubling the number of irregular migrants compared to the previous year. Spain’s investments in West Africa have increased significantly, but the number of migrants departing from the coast there has steadily risen. Sánchez has now traveled to West Africa again. His first stop was Mauritania, where he reminded the newly re-elected President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of his promise from February to secure the borders. According to media reports, 70,000 people are waiting there to make the crossing.
In West Africa, the Spanish Prime Minister continues to rely on the familiar checkbook diplomacy. During a visit to Senegal in June, his Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares laid the foundation for a new cooperation agreement worth 180 million euros. Even within his left-wing coalition partner, Sumar, there are warnings against this policy. Such crises cannot be solved with money, which usually disappears into dark channels, says Sumar MEP Estrella Galán. Instead, she advocates for legal and safe pathways for migrants wishing to come to Europe.
Before his departure, Sánchez met with Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canary Islands. The situation there is particularly tense this year, with 1,000 refugees from West Africa arriving in simple wooden boats in just one week. Due to the calmer seas in autumn, the Spanish government fears that even more people, especially from the civil war-torn country of Mali, will head to Spain. As the land route through Tunisia or Morocco is more heavily guarded, many are opting for the route via Mauritania and the Canary Islands. Around 10,000 migrants have reached Spain this way this year alone.
The first stop for most migrants coming via the Atlantic route is the small island of El Hierro, as it is closest to the African continent. To ease the situation, newcomers are usually transferred to Tenerife or Gran Canaria. However, there are no more reception capacities there either. Unaccompanied minors pose a particular challenge, with more than 6,000 now distributed across the Canary Islands. They are granted special protection and therefore cannot simply be sent back to their countries of origin.
The attempt to transfer them to the mainland recently failed due to opposition resistance, which opposed the necessary amendment to the immigration law. The conservative Partido Popular accuses Sánchez not only of inaction but also of lacking a coherent plan. While Italy has managed to slow the flow of migrants, Sánchez has set a new record for illegal immigration, says opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. He failed to mention that the decline in Italy is likely due to the refugee deal Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed with Tunisia in the summer of 2023, which also includes generous financial and economic aid.
The conservatives are only willing to support Sánchez if he declares a “migration emergency.” The People’s Party wants to introduce more border controls and request additional EU funds to manage the refugee crisis. Feijóo also criticized the lack of personnel in border security, which not only affects Spain’s southern external borders. Increasingly, asylum applications are also being filed at airports. More and more Latin Americans from Venezuela, Peru, or Colombia arrive as supposed tourists and apply for asylum immediately upon arrival.
Additionally, under Sánchez, unlike previous socialist governments, hardly any deportations are taking place, further exacerbating the situation. According to the Ministry of the Interior, there were only about 6,000 deportations in 2023 – meaning only one in five irregular migrants leaves Spain again. Illegal entry into Spain is not just a problem on the Canary Islands. With around 2,400 immigrants, more newcomers have landed in the Balearic Islands this year than in the entire previous year. Instead of rowing in simple wooden boats, they are now being transported by smuggling gangs for several thousand euros in highly motorized boats, reaching Spain within a few hours. Most come from Algeria, a country with which there was once a repatriation agreement. However, since Sánchez began supporting Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict, Algeria has been angered. It not only neglects coastal controls but also no longer accepts rejected asylum seekers from Spain.
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