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ARCHIVED - Number of illegal migrants intercepted off Murcian coastline rises to almost 300
22 boats have arrived in Murcia this week as criminal gangs continue to organise the transport of illegal immigrants to Europe
On Tuesday evening and in the early hours of Wednesday morning 73 irregular Algerian migrants in 6 boats reached the Murcian coastline, but since that last report the number of new arrivals has reached almost 300, as the boats continue to arrive throughout Wednesday and on Thursday morning.
Since the last report, the total for Wednesday has increased to 270 irregular Algerian migrants in 20 boats and then on Thursday, two further boats were detected, bringing the total to 297 and 22 boats in the last 48 hours. Virtually all of the migrants were male,but in the last boat detected off the coast of Cabo Tiñoso the 17 migrants included 9 adult men, 6 women and 2 children.
All of the migrants are reported to be of Algerian nationalty, which makes them irregular economic migrants, not refugees, and therefore subject to expulsion orders and repatriation to their country of origin.
All have been taken to the Escombreras docks where they will be tested for coronavirus and hospitalised/quarantined as appropriate.
Although the number of migrants targeting the Murcia region as an entry point has been more noticeable in the last 4 months, the overall totals of migrants entering Spain via the Western Mediterranean route has fallen considerably, mainly due to the almost complete absence of Moroccans making the journey to enter Europe via the Spanish coastline.
Frontex, the EU border force, reports that there were nearly 1 600 detections of illegal border crossings on the Western Mediterranean migratory route in August 2020, 7% less than in the previous month.
The total for the first eight months of 2020, was nearly half the figure from the same period in the previous year at 8,200, down 46%.
However, Algerians have accounted for nearly two-thirds of all detections on the route this year, and the August figure was six times the figure from a year ago, which ties in with the deteriorating economic and political situation in Algeria, and the border closure in Morocco, which is preventing many of the sub-Saharan migrants getting into Morocco in the first place.
The distance for Algerians to the Spanish coastline favours the Murcia Region and Alicante as chosen destinations, the increase in Algerians logically leading to an increased level of traffic to Murcia.
NB: The migrants are referred to as “irregular immigrants” by the EU; the Spanish media tend to call them “sin papeles” meaning those with no paperwork entering the country illegally, others refer to them as illegal migrants. The phrase irregular migrants is used on MT in an attempt to convey that these are not refugees, but economic migrants, in this case from Algeria, entering Spain and the EU in an illegal fashion, without passports or documentation and without any legal right to enter the EU as Algeria is not an EU member and there is no migration agreement between the two countries.
Further reading
EU Action plan against Migrant Smuggling 2015/2020 Click to read
EU Directive f2008/115/EC Common standards and procedures in EU Member States for returning illegally staying third country nationals. Click to read
FRONTEX European coast guard and border control agency. This explains more about the migration issue and shows the different routes taken. Our routes here are the "Western Mediterranean" routes used principally by Moroccans And Algerians.Click Frontex