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 that is due to 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 2024, as described above. In the monitoring report on Spain published in October 2025, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe reported on cases of racial profiling by law enforcement officials that impacts especially people of African descent, migrants or people with a migration background as well as Roma also underlined the importance of further strengthening safeguards against any racial profiling practices especially affecting those groups.[1]
[1] European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Council of Europe, ‘ECRI report on Spain – (sixth monitoring cycle)’, adopted on 2 July 2025, published on 30 October 2025, available here.