Rabat – The number of irregular migrants in Spain dropped by 52% from April 2018 to April 2019, according to the Spanish daily newspaper ABC. Moroccan-Spanish cooperation has been successfully tackling the issue, a source at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior told Spanish newspaper ABC.
Using data from the International Organization for Migration, the newspaper reported that a total of 820 illegal migrants arrived in Spain in April 2019, compared to 1,706 in the previous April, reducing migration by 52%.
Quoting an authorized source at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, ABC notes that the significant decline is mainly due to Morocco’s success in dismantling irregular migration networks and the security cooperation and information exchange between Morocco and Spain.
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The newspaper shed light on Morocco’s “positive role” in “alleviating the migratory pressure,” noting that the country is itself under enormous migratory pressure as a transit country, with the presence of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants in its territory trying to reach Europe.
The newspaper explained that the operations dismantling irregular migration have multiplied in recent months, noting that the downward trend in migrant arrivals has been observed since the beginning of 2019.
On Thursday, May 2, police in Nador, a coastal city on the Mediterranean, northeast Morocco, arrested five people suspected of facilitating irregular migration.
