Frontex warns of the possible arrival of criminals on small boats from Algeria

Illegal migration routes from Algeria are a cause for concern for the European Union (EU). In this regard, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, warns of the highly likely arrival of criminals via small boats from the North African country. 

The latest Frontex report warns of the possibility that people with criminal intentions could take advantage of this irregular migration flow to infiltrate and go unnoticed among irregular migrants. ‘It may allow individuals with potentially malicious intentions to blend in with irregular migrants, enter the European Union undetected and engage in criminal activities,’ says the Annual Risk Analysis 2025-2026 document, released this week.

In this regard, the migration route connecting Algeria with the Balearic Islands has become a major concern for European authorities and Frontex, the European Union agency that coordinates and supports Member States in managing the external borders of the Schengen area, combats cross-border crime and coordinates return operations.

This agency has a permanent corps of border guards and is responsible for surveillance, risk analysis and the provision of technical assistance to EU countries. Recently, it has shown great concern about the migration route from Algeria.

In its Annual Risk Analysis 2025-2026 report, Frontex warns of the possible inclusion of criminal elements among the group of irregular migrants who leave Algeria in small boats and arrive in European territory, mainly bound for the Balearic Islands.

In this report, Frontex also points to a change in irregular migration flows, as in the last two years departures from Morocco have lost ground to those from Algeria, mainly as a result of the diplomatic controversy generated with Spain over the support of the Spanish Government led by Pedro Sánchez for Morocco's Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara, which is totally rejected by Algeria, a country that supports the Polisario Front and its opposition proposal regarding the holding of an independence referendum for the Sahrawi population.

The Algerian state expressed its disagreement with Spain's support for the Moroccan kingdom to integrate Western Sahara into Moroccan sovereignty, and this could be the reason behind the latest wave of irregular migration from Algeria, according to various sources.

Since the breakdown of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation between Spain and Algeria in 2022, arrivals in the Balearic Islands have skyrocketed from around 500 people per year to more than 2,600.

The trend has intensified in 2025. So far this year alone, more than 5,000 migrants have reached the islands and, if the current rate continues, the figure could rise to 13,000 by December, according to forecasts.

At this point, the Balearic Islands Government is asking for help. ‘We are the new southern border,’ according to various sources in the Balearic government, which denounces the saturation of its reception resources. The Balearic president, Marga Prohens, pointed out that Pedro Sánchez recognises with facts that the Balearic Islands are experiencing an exceptional situation, but at the same time denies reality and refuses to admit that there is a consolidated migration route from Algeria. In addition, the Balearic leader has announced a meeting in September with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, to demand a reinforcement of Frontex resources in the Balearic Islands, both maritime and land-based, as the regional government has warned that the Balearic Islands are ‘the European epicentre of migration’.