Over the past week, 650 illegal immigrants made it into Spain, all departing from either Morocco or Algeria.
They arrived in several waves, with 150 persons traveling on 4 boats that departed from Morocco reaching Lanzarote; 10 boats carrying 170 immigrants from Algeria landing in Almeria, Murcia, and the Balearic islands; an additional 130 persons arriving on 6 boats reaching Granada between Monday and Wednesday last week; and another boat carrying 41 immigrants making it to Alicante. Granada also received two other vessels with 93 passengers, who had departed from the Bay of al-Hoceima in Morocco. Finally, Thursday topped the week off with the arrival of 50 more immigrants to the island of Alboran.
Political analyst Rubén Pulido has suggested that human traffickers previously operating in Tunisia may now shift to activating other migration routes, further intensifying the situation, given that Tunisian authorities will be receiving money from Italy to enforce the law on their coasts. Specifically, he warns that a possible flux from Algeria to the Balearic Islands is the likeliest candidate for these groups to use, and that we should watch out for an increase in Tunisian arrivals, via the port of Argel, to Spain’s Mediterranean islands.
