Landings halved and repatriations increasing. In the summer marked by the Ceuta crisis, with the specter of a new wave of migrants in the Spanish exclave in Africa, the Government can assert its policy summarized by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the triad “border defense, security, respect for the rules”.
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The dossier
The numbers for the first six months of the year come from the Interior Ministry dossier, traditionally released on August 15, which also shows a general decrease in so-called socially alarming crimes. Among them, femicides, which were 34 (-37% compared to the same period in 2025).
Landings halved
In 2026 “about 17 thousand people landed, that is to say less than a quarter of those who arrived in Ceuta in two days,” emphasized Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi during Thursday’s hearing in the Schengen Commission, referring to the diplomatic rift between Rome and Madrid not yet resolved. In the Interior Ministry report, the count of sea arrivals stops at last June 30: the 14,388 migrant landings correspond to a 52.1% decrease compared to the 30 thousand in the first half of 2025 (the year ended with 66,316 total arrivals, in line with 2024).
Repatriations increase
Behind a sharply declining phenomenon is the collaboration with Libya and Tunisia: 20,157 departures blocked in the first half of 2026, recalls the Interior Ministry, bringing the total count since 2023 to 275,463 irregular landings avoided.
At the same time, repatriations have increased, reaching 4,432 in six months, one third more (34.3%) than the same period last year. Those by expulsion remain the majority (3,825, +28.5%) but what has grown most are voluntary assisted repatriations, which rose from 324 in mid-2025 to 607 in the same period of 2026, a jump of 87.3%.
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