The number of undocumented migrants arriving in Europe, especially via the eastern Mediterranean Sea route, has decreased, according to the EU border agency. At the same time, more are making the crossing from North Africa.
Baynana, Spain's self-proclaimed first refugee-run media outlet, focuses on "the good face of migrants in Spain". The new online news magazine was founded by four Syrian journalists who fled to Spain in 2019.
Spanish and Moroccan authorities stopped around 60 migrants from crossing the border into the Spanish territory of Ceuta. According to local reports, it was the first such attempt in at least two years.
Spanish police say they have rounded up 20 people accused of smuggling migrants through Spain's overseas Ceuta enclave. The "organized crime group" is also accused of murdering four people who drowned during an attempted sea crossing in February.
Four people have been found dead in a makeshift boat carrying some 23 migrants near Spain's Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, local authorities said. Nineteen of them were hospitalized on Tenerife.
The Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR) presented a report in which it denounced that the Canary Islands are becoming "a new stage for migrant containment policy" such as that used in Greece.
Moroccan and sub-Saharan African migrants regularly attempt to swim to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from neighboring Moroccan ports. But a crossing even a hundred meters from the shore is risky. Four people drowned in March 2021.
Police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday in a fight at a migrant camp in Spain's Canary Islands, while in waters off Gran Canaria 17 migrants were rescued.
The Spanish government has come under fire from migrants, local officials and human rights groups on the Canary Islands, where thousands of migrants are stuck in inadequate camps.
The Spanish migrant rescue vessel Open Arms is still looking for a port to disembark the 217 boat migrants it has rescued since Sunday. On Tuesday, a pregnant woman and her brother were handed over to the Italian coast guard.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has unveiled a new policy “Africa Focus 2023”. He says that he wants to build closer economic and institutional ties with various African countries.
The Open Arms private rescue operation has saved the lives of 38 migrants in distress in the central Mediterranean. Nearer to Spain, at least two migrants drowned at the weekend.