The Spanish government's delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez, stated that the central government cannot confirm the overall figures released by the organization Caminando Fronteras regarding mortality on the migration route from North Africa to the Balearic Islands, although he affirmed that he "respects" them. In any case, he did confirm the deaths of 63 people on this route during 2025.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska agreed this Monday with his Algerian counterpart, Said Sayoud, to strengthen the fight against criminal human trafficking networks by updating the return protocol and promoting new measures to limit the use of speedboats, as well as combat fraud.

A few months ago, when the arrival of boats from Algeria to the Balearic Islands was beginning to intensify, I received a call from Radio Illa, based in Formentera, to interview me on the subject. The first question already defined the scope of the interview: Is the migratory route between Algeria and the Balearic Islands established? My answer was a bit brash: of course! In fact, for almost two centuries, this route has been established.

The migratory route between the Algerian coast and the Balearic Islands is constantly changing. Beyond the increase in arrivals over the last five years, the danger of the journey has also increased; the profile of those arriving, their motivations, and the authorities' response have all changed. What began in 2018 as a sporadic trickle of people crossing from one neighboring country to another has now become an established route, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, through which people depart whose journey begins thousands of kilometers from our shores.