Spain saw at least 4,202 illegal migrant arrivals in the first month of 2022, an increase of 30.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, with most migrants arriving on the Spanish Canary Islands.
Figures from the Spanish interior Ministry released this week stated that of the 4,202 migrants who arrived by sea and air to Spain illegally, the vast majority, 4,115, arrived in the country aboard the 115 boats that made it to Spanish waters in January.
Just 87 people crossed the land border to Spain in January, with most entering via the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which border Morocco, Europa Press reports.
The overall figure for January is a full 30.6 per cent higher than the number of arrivals in January of 2021, which totalled 3,217 people. The number of arrivals for January is the highest since 2019, when some 4,612 illegal arrivals were reported, according to UNHCR statistics.
The most popular migrant route to Spain in January, by a large margin, was the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa, which saw 3,194 arrivals, an increase of 53 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The Canary Islands was the most popular route for migrants trying to reach Spain in 2021 and saw over 22,000 arrivals, which amounted to over half of the total arrivals of illegal migrants in Spanish territory.
The route to the Canary Islands is also known as the most dangerous to Spain and a surge in popularity with illegals has also led to a surge of migrant deaths. In 2021, the UNHCR estimates that at least 1,485 people died trying to reach Spain, up from just 59 people in 2015.
Other groups have put the death toll for 2021 even higher, such as the Association for Human Rights of Andalusia (Apdha), which claims that 2,126 people died trying to reach Spain last year.
The NGO stated that 1,457 bodies of migrants had been found and another 669 people were missing. The figure, if accurate, would be the largest loss of life among illegal immigrants trying to reach Spain since records began in 1988.
Another NGO, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), stated that the number of deaths may be even higher for last year, estimating that as many as 4,400 migrants may have lost their lives.
Earlier this week, another migrant was found dead aboard a boat heading for the Canary Islands after Spanish authorities rescued around forty others on Wednesday.
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