The 'dungeon' where migrants arriving by boat to Mallorca are held for 72 hours

PalmWhile the far right continues its offensive against migrants, organizations such as the Novact Institute and Irídia Center for the Defense of Human Rights denounce the conditions faced by people arriving in Mallorca by boat. For their part, institutions downplay the severity of some situations and point out that the complications arise during peak arrival times—peaks that break records and demand more adequate infrastructure to provide dignified treatment to those who undertake a long and dangerous journey in search of a better life.

Migrants arriving irregularly in Mallorca pass through the Temporary Foreigners' Reception Center (CATE) in Son Tous. A bad starting point for humanitarian organizations. "CATEs are usually closed police stations, buildings, or prefabricated modules (as in the case of Son Tous), where people are detained after arriving irregularly for processing and humanitarian assistance" (quotation marks are from the report on Human rights violations on the southern border of the Spanish State(from Irídia and Novact). In this way, people are deprived of their liberty for up to 72 hours, even though they have not committed any crime. Furthermore, the CATEs operate "without regulation" or "internal operating rules" that are communicated to the migrants, a situation that, in addition to human rights organizations, has also been reported to the Ombudsman.

The Son Tous center, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, was designed to accommodate a maximum of 150 people – construction was completed in 2022. These facilities, according to the Spanish government delegate, Alfonso Rodríguez, "are not adequate" for the current number of arrivals. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, 5,882 people arrived in 2024 and 5,909 in the first nine months of 2025. To alleviate the situation, the Spanish government has set up tents in the port of Palma, which will begin operating within days, Rodríguez assures. The tents are not considered a permanent solution, but Son Tous was also opened as a temporary facility.

Not even the bare minimum

"Son Tous doesn't even meet the minimum standards. It's a prime example of how people who haven't committed any crime should be held in police detention facilities," laments Clara Calderó (Novact). According to information requested by the organizations from the Ministry of the Interior via the transparency portal, 5,749 men, 368 women, and 654 children and adolescents were detained at the Balearic Islands Temporary Immigrant Detention Center (CATE) in 2024—the Ministry did not provide data broken down by center, despite being requested. According to the report by Irídia and Novact, the Palma CATE facilities "are a dungeon." The document details that there are 15 cells with a capacity for 10 people each, "without furniture, just mattresses on the floor." The showers are inadequate—these are people who have spent a long time at sea—and, lacking identification bracelets, there have been cases where numbers have been written on their hands or arms. "This isn't appropriate. If it happened, it must have been a one-off incident, of course. We have to avoid it. We're not here to brand anyone," says the Spanish government delegate. Meanwhile, the ARA Baleares has contacted the Ministry of the Interior, which, unlike Rodríguez, denies that this occurred.

"It's important to point out that they are not criminals, although they are treated as such," says Podemos activist Lucía Muñoz. "The feeling is that the policy of the Spanish government delegation is to attract as little attention as possible, and these people are rendered invisible," she adds. There is also no medical care provided by hired professionals—Irídia and Novact emphasize that it is done by volunteers—no suitable spaces for conducting individual interviews, and no interpreters to facilitate communication. "We have spoken with the Bar Association, and we know we have room for improvement," says the delegate, who points out that some languages are not easy to find. "They lack the resources for adequate intervention," emphasizes immigration lawyer Lola Puertas, which "greatly hinders the detection of both vulnerable individuals and potential applicants for international protection." Asylum applications are one of the most serious problems in Son Tous. The Spanish government delegate acknowledges that "very few" asylum applications are processed, while sources close to the Temporary Immigrant Detention Center (CATE) indicate that none are processed at all. "Most migrants see the Balearic Islands as just another stop on their journey. If their destination is in Northern Europe, they don't apply here. But everything can be improved," he comments. However, international law expert Margalida Capellà believes that this argument "doesn't make sense." "According to the Dublin Convention regulations [the European law that determines which member state is responsible for examining an asylum application], if a person applies for asylum in one member state and it is proven that they entered through another, it is not granted. The application must be submitted in the first country of entry," she clarifies.