On the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca, capital of the Balearic Islands, authorities store the boats and their contents, left behind by the migrants who crossed the approximately 300 kilometer stretch of sea separating the Spanish archipelago from Algeria, and after their rescue and stay in the former military barracks of Son Tous. Life jackets, water bottles, gasoline cans, puffer jackets, flip-flops, and distress flares lay around, waiting to be destroyed. 

Each boat has inscriptions: "SM 10/2025," "GC 20/6/2025,” the date on which the rescue operations — carried out by the Spanish rescue services Salvamento Maritimo (SM) or the Civil Guard Guardia Civil (GC) — took place.

Increase in arrivals

In recent months, there has been a constant need for rescue services. Never before have so many migrants reached the Balearic Islands, located in the Mediterranean, east of the Iberian Peninsula. According to the latest figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, 6,104 migrants have reached the archipelago since the beginning of the year. A 75.4 percent increase compared to last year.

Since January 1, more than 330 boats have arrived on the Balearic Islands, more than in all of 2024. "This summer was chaotic," Margalida Capellà, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and professor of international law, told InfoMigrants.

Sitting at a café in the center of Palma, Carlos Martín Ciscar, spokesperson for Acollim, a group of migrant advocacy organizations, describes this unprecedented number of migrants reaching their shores. "Boats arrived almost every day this summer. There were also corpses, missing people. These are situations that we didn't see last year," he recounted. "Sometimes there were two, three, or even four boats arriving at the same time."

'State of migration emergency'

This unprecedented situation prompted the government to declare a "state of migration emergency" on September 16. This legal mechanism allows the administration to speed up administrative procedures, "which was necessary to provide facilities equipped with basic services faster" for migrants, the government told InfoMigrants.

Thus, nearly seven million euros have been released for the creation of temporary reception facilities in the archipelago. In Ibiza and Formentera, large white tents will accommodate 120 and 20 migrants respectively for "a maximum of one day," according to the Spanish government delegation in the Balearic Islands.

In Palma, which receives the largest share of arrivals, the installation has been delayed. In the meantime, while cruise ships flood the port with their lights, a discreet lobby at the sea station is left open at night so that migrants can sleep there before embarking for the peninsula the next day. From 8 pm onwards, reception staff leave the door open in case the police come to drop off migrants. In recent weeks, a sea station employee told InfoMigrants that she has discovered migrants "practically every day" waiting on the iron benches in the lobby upon arriving at work in the morning.

Nevertheless, their presence varies depending on the numbers of "pateras" - the Spanish name for boats - arrivals and rescues. On the October evening InfoMigrants visited, the docks remain empty. No rescues have taken place in recent days. "But almost every day the national police bus people," a port police officer anonymously told InfoMigrants. "Every day," he repeated, sounding almost surprised.

That officer wasn't the only one taken by surprise by this increase in arrivals. The "Algerian route" is not new, but it has never been so busy. This summer, the presence of migrants sleeping outside around the ferry terminal came as a shock for many citizens for whom the migration situation has now become a daily reality. "Associations mobilized quickly while the government looked the other way," Carlos Martin Cizcar said. As a former merchant navy captain, he is particularly affected by the tragedy unfolding at sea just a few kilometers from beaches crowded with vacationers. "It was our efforts, civil society's, that changed things," he said.

Since September, the Red Cross has been distributing food, clothing, and other basic necessities to refugees arriving in the Balearic Islands. The organization also cares for particularly vulnerable people, such as pregnant women or those in need of medical care, Ana Espinosa, Red Cross coordinator in the Balearic Islands, explained to InfoMigrants. The NGO has a 44-bed center in Palma, but because of overcrowding, it has started placing migrants in hotels. "Since this summer, we have 20 additional places in a hotel in the city," she explained from behind her desk, wearing a bib emblazoned with the organization's emblematic logo.

'The thinking now is to send away everyone who lands here.'

The new profile of the migrants has caused tensions in the system on the island. Previously, the vast majority of migrants came from Algeria. Now, more and more sub-Saharan Africans are boarding these boats. In 2023, 73 percent of people arriving in the Balearic Islands were of North African origin. In 2025, this percentage had dropped to 30 percent, while the percentage of people arriving from other African countries reached 70 percent.

This is a direct consequence of the agreements concluded with Mauritania by the European Union (EU) and Spain. "This has encouraged migrants to head for Algeria, where this surveillance is absent and where the journey is shorter than that to the Canary Islands: they can be here in 15 hours and reach the European Union from Africa," Professor Margalida Capellà explained.

Malians, Senegalese, Gambians, Burkinabe, Somalis, and even Pakistanis are therefore finding themselves on boats departing from the Algerian coast. That change might seem trivial, but "it's very significant. Unlike Algerians, for example, these people can more easily apply for asylum. The Spanish government must therefore protect them," the professor said. She added that "the system collapsed because it wasn't prepared to receive so many people."

Faced with this situation, the Spanish authorities send the migrants to the mainland. From now on, "the thinking is to send away everyone who lands here," the director of the Migration Observatory added. Each migrant landing in the Balearic Islands is now given a ticket to board a boat to the mainland. "There, they can reach a center and apply for asylum or continue their migration route," the Red Cross coordinator explained.

Shipwrecks and missing persons

That migratory route is far from risk-free. According to the government delegate to the Balearic Islands, 45 bodies of deceased migrants have been found on the coast or at sea since the beginning of the year. Between 12 and 15 are confirmed missing, and "many others may have undertaken the journey and we haven't heard back from them." According to the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which monitors migration to Spain, at least 517 people died on this Algerian route in 2024, and hundreds are missing.

Dany, an Algerian in an irregular situation in Palma, has made searching for the missing his daily task. In his notebook, he carefully writes down the names of the various missing people and their departure city. On WhatsApp, he creates a group for each boat reported missing. He mentioned as an example a group of 13 people who left Algeria on September 21. "We also contacted Alarm Phone [a platform providing assistance to migrants, editor's note] but we haven't found anything," he sighed.

This 34-year-old Algerian isn't the only one feeling concerned. November is known to be the time of year when the Algerian migratory route is at its busiest. "We're waiting, we'll see what happens," the Red Cross told InfoMigrants. "We are concerned," Margalida Capellà said. "Reception conditions have improved over the past two months, but there is still much to do," Carlos Martin Cizcar added.

The President of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, traveled to Brussels to call for the deployment of Frontex, the European border surveillance agency, off the coast of the archipelago. "The Balearic Islands are today the main gateway for irregular immigration to Europe via the Mediterranean," she told the European Commission.

Magnus Bronner, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, said he was ready to deploy members of the agency, provided the Spanish government makes the request.