Viewpoint: Radicalised and on the streets?

There is a sense of confusion as to what is happening with migrants

there were an estimated seventy illegal migrants roaming the streets (Palma’s) | MDB files

Andrew EdePalma09/07/2021 11:09

A report this week suggested that there were an estimated seventy illegal migrants roaming the streets (Palma’s) who fit security forces’ profiles of concern. One profile was radicalised as a sympathiser of Islamic State.

The seventy were apparently migrants who had arrived recently in the Balearics.
The National Police say that they don’t have any information to back up the claim of links to IS or to former combatants in Syria.

The national government delegate in the Balearics, Aina Calvo, has echoed this.
She and the delegation are unaware of any connection between migrants arriving in the Balearics and terrorism. The seventy have since been whittled down, as many of them are seemingly in quarantine for Covid.

Whatever the veracity of the claim, it points to what some will have suspected, even if there is a lack of evidence to support it. Which is why great care needs to be exercised in the reporting. Nevertheless, it also points to the apparent difficulties the authorities face with managing migrants.

Prosecutors are not always requesting detention because mainland centres are full. Processing deportation is proving difficult. It would appear that it is not the case that migrants are being transferred to the mainland when they should be.

There is a sense of confusion as to what is happening with migrants. Some real clarity is needed from the delegation.

If it is the case that they are not being sent to the mainland and are not being detained, then where are they?