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article_detail
Date Published: 08/07/2020
ARCHIVED - Illegal immigrant problem continues in Murcia Region with 70 new arrivals
On Wednesday afternoon nine of the new arrivals escaped from the marquee in which they were being temporarily held and disappeared off into Cartagena
The problem of irregular migration continues to occupy the headlines this week, exacerbated by the arrival on Tuesday of a further 70 Algerians, all seeking to enter Spain illegally by sea in small boats (pateras).
Due to the Covid crisis it is now standard practice to test all of the immigrants intercepted using the PCR swab test method and as of Wednesday lunchtime, three of those tested so far have given positive Covid results.
Their immediate contacts will be quarantined for 14 days.
Last week there was considerable dis-satisfaction amongst the local population following the arrival of 108 irregular migrants, 8 of whom tested positive, when the Cruz Roja used properties they owned or had access to, in the middle of residential areas in which to quarantine them.
This is because the migrant transit centre which is normally used to house illegal migrants during the 45 day period in which the Spanish Government tries to repatriate them to their country of origin, is temporarily closed. This in turn, is due to the Algerian and Moroccan borders being closed, making the repatriation of these migrants impossible.
Residents in both Los Alcázares (Los Nietos specifically) and residential districts of Murcia city made their feelings of discomfort uncomfortably clear, concerned that should the migrants prove to be Covid-positive, then the virus could be transmitted to the local community should they escape.
Those fears were born out on Thursday when a young Covid-positive nearly succeeded in escaping from Lorca hospital; on Friday when a Covid-positive migrant escaped from the Santa Lucía hospital in Cartagena and was intercepted in the car park outside and on Sunday when a Covid -positive migrant climbed out of the 4th floor room of the same hospital in which he was being monitored using his bed sheets at 3am in the morning and disappeared into Cartagena for several hours before being re-captured.
Illegal immigration and the detention of illegal migrants is an area of responsibility covered by the national government, and their representative here in the Murcia region is José Veléz, formerly Mayor of Calasparra, who met with representatives of the Murcian regional government on Friday to discuss the situation after a fairly tense week of exchanges between the two parties.
It was finally agreed that the regional government would provide more suitable accommodation which could be monitored by the Policia Nacional and on Monday it was announced that the El Valle albergue in the regional park just outside Murcia City had been selected for the quarantines and the migrants currently under quarantine had been moved there.
The albergue is normally used for school groups as a base from which to undertake educational activities and has suitable facilities for containing a group of people overnight as well as being well away from residential areas.
On Monday four Covid positives (including the would-be escapees) were removed from the Santa Lucía hospital in Cartagena and taken to a smaller hospital in Lorca where vigilance could be improved, much to the disgust of the local council there who were not informed in advance of the change and protested publicly about the situation.
70 more migrants arrive on Tuesday
Fortunately the albergue is spacious as on Tuesday another 70 illegal migrants arrived by sea in several boats, all of them Algerian and all male, except for one woman.
The first boat landed in La Azohía and 13 migrants were detained. There is some confusion as 15 people are reported to have arrived and it is believed that 2 people managed to come ashore without being detained.
Off the coast of Cabo Tiñoso nearby a further 11 men and one woman were intercepted out at sea.
Later in the day 18 immigrants were intercepted 66 nautical miles from the coast of Cartagena; 13 more in a boat sighted 18 nautical miles from the Cartagena coast and a further 14 in another boat close to Cabo de Palos.
All of them were taken into Cartagena where Cruz Roja volunteers carried out basic medical checks before testing for Covid. Once it has been determined if any are Covid positive, they are then handed over to the Policia Nacional in Cartagena.
Normally at this point the legal procedures to repatriate them to their country begins and a judge dictates a repatriation order, but as the migrant transit centre is closed, there is no law by which they can be detained in Spain, so having ascertained that they are not Covid-positive, any not deemed to be close contacts of the positive cases must be released.
Minors, however, must be cared for and at the moment the casa de la Espiritualidad in Alhama de Murcia is where minors who have arrived without an adult, are cared for.
On Tuesday two local police were quarantined after intervening in a fight between two young people showing Covid symptoms. Rapid tests on the two young men proved negative, but second PCR tests will give a definitive result.
Policia Local are the responsibility of the local council and Alhama de Murcia council requested immediate PCR tests for their officers; these were done and it was confirmed that at least one is negative.
Click to read full report about the Covid-positive illegal migrants situation written on Friday which gives further background information.
Image: Archive. Marine Rescue Services at work rescuing illegal migrants out at sea
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