Fewer immigrant boats to Canaries
Expatica News
8 August 2007
MADRID (DPA) – The number of illegal immigrants from Africa arriving by boat at Spain's Canary Islands and the mainland has dropped by 55 per cent, the daily El Pais reported on Wednesday.
Nearly 5,700 migrants landed on the Canaries in the first seven months of this year, down from 13,770 during the same period in 2006, according to figures quoted by the daily.
The number of migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to the mainland coast also went down from about 3,670 to around 2,250.
The government attributes the drop to increased cooperation and arrests in migrants' countries of origin, patrols of the European frontier control agency Frontex off the West African coast and increased repatriations of illegal immigrants.
