Pandemic complicating illegal migrant deportation from Spain

Migrants picked up by the Guardia Civil in Cabrera

Seven migrants were detained on Tuesday.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma23/06/2021 11:13

So far this year, nineteen boats with 272 migrants have arrived in the Balearics. The latest was on Tuesday; seven people were on a boat off Cabrera. In 2020, there were some 1,500 migrants, a record number.

As is the case with all illegal migrants detained and under the charge of the National Police, none stay very long in the Balearics. They are transferred to the mainland. Expulsion proceedings are started and the migrants usually go to an internment centre. However, this arrangement is not always being used. Migrants are placed in the care of NGOs, the Spanish government encountering great difficulty in effecting deportation because of the pandemic. Border controls for Covid are complicating matters. It has proved to be almost impossible to send migrants back.

To the migrants arriving in the Balearics from Algeria have to be added those who make their way to Andalusia, Murcia and Valencia. The total number of migrants tripled last year.