Spanish authorities cut down the influx of African migrants by almost 60 per cent, a statement by the nation’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has revealed.

While visiting the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Warsaw, Poland, last Friday, the minister urged the agency’s director, Hans Leijtens, to continue collaborating with the Spanish government and its African partners to drive back illegal migrants.

Mr Grande-Marlaska boasted that their collaboration so far had yielded substantial results, noting that Spain recorded a sharp 56.9 per cent decrease in illegal migration, as opposed to the 25.6 per cent recorded in 2022.

“Spain’s experience shows that the best way to deal with this phenomenon is to work with our partners to prevent irregular flows in the countries of origin and transit, based on cooperation, based on mutual trust and sustained in time,” Schengenvisainfo quoted the interior minister as saying. 

He said the majority of the reductions were seen throughout the peninsula’s coasts, as well as in Ceuta, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands—all of which are sites of seaborne entry into the EU.

The minister claimed that since Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy are frequently the first countries illegal immigrants enter, their borders needed to be protected.

“External borders are not only national but European, and given the challenges we face, states of first entry must be supported politically and operationally,” Mr Grande-Marlaska said.