No immigrants - 23.07.2010

What a difference the years make. In the first half of 2010 only six canoes arrived and 21 immigrants to the whole of the Canaries – this is the lowest recorded since 2000 arrival of immigrants this is according to data released last week by the Deputy Executive Director of Frontex (External Border Service), Gil Arias. And for the first time in a decade, there has been no arrival of immigrants for four months to the Islands.

This data was provided during the last day of the seminar ‘Security Strategy’
This notable decrease in the arrival of illegal immigrants to countries of the European Union has been particularly evident in Spain, a country which has ratified the success of its border control, thanks to the cooperation with African countries.
Interceptions - in 2007 a total of 93 boats with 8574 immigrants in 2008, the arrival slowed with 59 boats with 6654 people without papers, and in 2009 this figure was reduced further to 22 boats, with 2570 immigrants.
The data showed that figures had fallen by 42 percent during the first six months of 2010 over the same period last year.
The figures "demonstrate the consolidation of the downward trend in the entry of illegal immigrants in the territory of the Union, which experienced a decline since last 2008," said Gil Arias.
In 2008, 160 000 entries were detected and in 2009 there were 106,200, representing a 33% lower.  As the Deputy Executive Director of Frontex, the reduction in the number of entries is caused by various conditions, such as cooperation with third countries, the increase in return operations, the most restrictive policies of the EU Member States and the current socioeconomic status.
 In 2009, 113,000 were made in Europe refused entry, which is down 7%, partly due to less arrival of foreigners.  The main reasons have motivated such refusals of entry into the EU space are the possession of a visa is not valid (38%) and the stay is not justified (30%).
The country of the Union which supports a greater pressure of illegal crossings along its borders is Greece, in large part by the number of land and sea borders that it has.  In 2009, 65% of total EU illegal entries were made in Greece, and in so far in 2010, Greece's borders have endured 88% of illegal crossings.
For his part, the head of the General Commissariat for Immigration and Border National Police, Juan Enrique Taborda, stressed the importance of implementing the ABC System. This is a project that allows travellers to quickly pass through the border posts of an automatic identification and verification of documentary that is overseen by the National Police.