Author
Organisations working with migrants in irregular situation or in the area of immigration detention have always reported that most detained migrants are from Maghreb and sub-Saharan countries. In its annual report on the situation of CIEs, the Migrant Jesuit Service continued to denounce the lack of transparency by the Government in publishing and providing statistics on immigration detention.[1]
The over-representation in detention of people from Maghreb or sub-Saharan Africa is explained by the fact that identity checks conducted by police are still mostly based on ethnic and racial profiling. The discriminatory attitude and incidents within the Spanish territory have been the subject of several reports and critiques, which persisted in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024.[2]
[1] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2021 – Territorio hostil. Formas diversas de hostilidad en los CIEs’, May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3KPkfhu.
[2] Liberties, “‘Because You’re Black’: Spain Ethnic Profiling Case Goes to Strasbourg”, 25 January 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2sBpiJG; SOS Racismo, ‘Parad de pararme’, 25 January 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3ECBa2l.