The Spanish Canary Islands have already recorded more irregular sea arrivals in 2026 than in all of 2025, with police reports indicating the archipelago could close the year above 30,000 people.
A sharp late-year acceleration, concentrated on the small island of El Hierro, has overwhelmed local services and drawn sharp criticism from regional leaders and right-leaning parties in Spain.
Numerous videos on social media have also documented the influx.
🇪🇸🚨 JUST IN: Hundreds of illegal migrants have just landed at Puerto de la Esaca on the Spanish island of El Hierro, which belongs to the Canary Islands.
They will be transferred to Tenerife.
In many cases, they are then transported to mainland Spain.
Follow: @RMXnews https://t.co/WMcwIohzfX
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) November 9, 2026In 2025, the islands received 17,788 irregular migrants by sea for the entire year. By Nov. 7, 2026, the overall total stood at 18,657, according to internal police documents received by Spanish media outlet La Gaceta and cross-checked against Ministry of the Interior data.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo has stated there is currently “no foreign policy, no migration policy and no protection of our border.”
He also added on X: “The Canary Islands need urgent answers to the migration situation we are experiencing, especially on El Hierro. Tomorrow we will present concrete measures to the extraordinary Interministerial Commission: increased healthcare capacity, activation of European emergency mechanisms and Frontex, appropriate transfers, and weekly coordination between government bodies. El Hierro cannot become a massive detention center.”
Canarias necesita respuestas urgentes ante la situación migratoria que estamos viviendo, especialmente en El Hierro.
Mañana llevaremos a la Comisión Interministerial extraordinaria medidas concretas: refuerzo sanitario, activación de los mecanismos europeos de emergencia y de Frontex, derivaciones adecuadas y coordinación semanal entre administraciones.
El Hierro no puede convertirse en un macrocentro de internamiento. Necesitamos anticipación, recursos y una respuesta coordinada del Estado y de Europa.
Canarias asumirá su responsabilidad, pero esta emergencia exige que todas las administraciones asuman la suya.
@RTVCes
#canarias
#rutaatlántica
— Fernando Clavijo (@FClavijoBatlle) November 9, 2026Of that figure, 13,327 landed in Spain by Oct. 31 and a further 5,330 landed in the first week of November alone, aboard 56 vessels. Updated regional government figures put arrivals from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9 at 6,665 people on 66 boats, a roughly 1,300 percent increase over the same period in 2025.
The pressure is most acute on El Hierro, an island with 12,000 residents. More than 9,000 migrants have arrived there in under two months, resulting in local authorities declared a public emergency.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on X that El Hierro is facing a crisis.
“The island of El Hierro is experiencing another invasion. 8,000 have arrived on an island with a population of 12,000. Sánchez and the Canary Islands government are only concerned with quickly dispersing the invaders throughout Spain,” he warned.
La isla de El Hierro está viviendo otra invasión.
Han llegado 8000 a una isla de 12.000 habitantes.
La única preocupación de Sánchez y del gobierno Canario es repartir rápido a los invasores por toda España.
— Santiago Abascal 🇪🇸 (@Santi_ABASCAL) November 7, 2026The boats arrive from various countries across the African coast, often carrying 150 to 270 people.
The surge reverses months of year-on-year declines that the Spanish government had promoted as evidence of improved cooperation with source countries in Africa.
Up until mid-August, the number of migrants had been running 60 percent below 2025 levels, with the increase tied to Morocco’s closure of the northern land border at Ceuta in late July. As a result, pressure shifted back to the Atlantic route.
Nationally, illegal migrants arriving in Spain are at 32,942 through Oct. 31, 2026. This is already higher than the full-year 2025 number of 36,775, but only once the early-November Canary Island numbers are added. In reality, the numbers are far larger, as the Ceuta land border crossing that dominated international headlines had not been counted by the Interior Ministry in order to hide the true failure of Spanish authorities to secure the border.
Vice President Manolo Domínguez also said the situation was an emergency and described it as a “silent invasion,” criticizing what he called complete neglect by the central government in tackling smuggling networks and saving lives.
