Late on Sunday, a wooden boat with 125 people on board was spotted off El Hierro. Earlier that day, a similar boat with more than 100 migrants on board was brought to port in Tenerife by Spanish rescue authorities. Another 62 migrants reportedly arrived on Gran Canaria on Saturday, while a group of 61 reached Lanzarote that same day.
Migrant arrivals in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands fell by 82 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2025. This decrease is attributed to the signing of several agreements between Spain and West African countries in recent years to intercept more migrants en route to the Canaries. As a result, migration flows appear to have shifted: arrivals in the Balearic Islands and the enclave of Ceuta are increasing sharply.
Three former workers at a center for young migrants in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, have been taken into custody for the alleged mistreatment of minors, Spanish police announced on Tuesday. The facility is run by the organization Quorum Social 77, which operates several facilities housing minors who arrive in the archipelago after crossing from West Africa.
The Humanitarian Pilots Initiative has been conducting monitoring flights over the Atlantic Ocean since mid-January in this latest phase of their pilot project. Numerous migrant boats find themselves in distress in this zone where humanitarian ships are not present.
The crossing between Western Africa and the Canary Islands is considered the most deadly sea migration route to the EU. People who attempt to cross face rough seas in overcrowded boats, and, in some cases, violence.
In 2025, more than 17,500 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, compared with nearly 47,000 in 2024 -- a decrease of 62 percent in just one year, according to figures from the Spanish Interior Ministry. This drop in arrivals in the Spanish archipelago is explained by increased controls on the West African coast following agreements signed with Spain.
One migrant has died, and six others were taken to the hospital with severe symptoms of hypothermia following the rescue of a boat carrying 143 people off the Canary Islands.
Dozens are feared missing after a boat carrying around 100 migrants capsized off Senegal’s coast near Joal last week, highlighting the ongoing dangers of the Atlantic migration route toward Spain's Canary Islands as well as the growing pressure on reception systems at destination points.
Authorities in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, have transferred 679 unaccompanied minors to the mainland. In doing so, the Spanish government has complied with the Supreme Court’s latest ruling, which reiterated that migrant children have a right to asylum. The deadline for the transfer expired on Friday (November 21).
Boubacar (name changed) fled community violence in Mali to seek refuge in neighboring Senegal. Fearing that the violence would spread beyond his country, he set off for Morocco a few years later. The racist assaults and attacks he says he suffered there then drove the 22-year-old Malian to reach the Canary Islands by sea earlier this year. Now in Tarragona on the mainland, he anxiously awaits a response to his asylum application. Here is his story.
Spanish police have arrested 16 survivors of a migrant boat rescued adrift south of the Canary Islands, on suspicion of violent acts and possible responsibility for dozens of deaths during the crossing.
The founder and director of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, Oscar Camps, has announced that the NGO's migrant rescue ship will be in the Canary Islands for two months to raise awareness about the situation of migrants on the Atlantic route.