Inside the private Telegram chat calling for immigrants in Spain to be ‘hunted down’: ‘Arab heads will roll’

A pinned message, right at the top:

— Let’s go hunting.

It’s very easy to get in. You don’t have to go through any filters. A family member or friend sends you the link, and that’s it. Any user can log in with their account. Click on the magnifying glass that appears on the Telegram social network. Type “Deport Them Now Spain.” And you’re in. Welcome to a group that openly discusses “hunting down” and “killing all” immigrants who come to Spain.

The next step is to choose your region. There are 17 different chats with over 1,700 members: Madrid. Extremadura. Andalusia. Murcia. The Murcia chat has been growing rapidly since last Thursday, when a user uploaded a photo of Domingo Tomás Martínez, a 60-year-old retired resident of the municipality of Torre Pacheco. Domingo told the local newspaper La Verdad last Saturday that he went out for a walk on Wednesday, July 9 at 6 a.m. and was brutally beaten by an unknown assailant for no apparent reason. Images of Domingo, dazed, bruised, with bloodstains around his eyes and face, have gone viral on every Spanish social media platform. In this particular chat, his photo was accompanied by the phrase: “This is how some FOREIGN YOUTHS left a resident of Torre Pacheco.”

Since then, security forces have arrested 10 people in Torre Pacheco. Hoaxes are spreading like wildfire. Posses are organized to search for migrants in the town. The far-right has planned a rally for July 15, encouraged by circles close to the extremist political party Vox. The main accusation is that the attacker is of North African origin. Torre Pacheco is home to 40,000 inhabitants, of whom 6,829 are of African origin, 400 more than in 2021. These are data from the statistics office of the Murcia regional government. The latest crime figures for the town — provided by the Ministry of the Interior and not classified by nationality — record 509 crimes between January and March, 20 more than in the same period in 2024.

In this Telegram chat in Murcia, users have been organizing themselves to search for and assault immigrants since last Thursday. One user, nicknamed Franco, mentions gatherings in other chats. Another one is more precise: “I [can] do it every day, death to these sons-of-bitches now.” The messages cannot be verified, but there is open talk of seeking immigrants that same night:

— We’re taking two cars. Who’s coming?

Suddenly, a user identified as V interrupts the conversation: “But how do you want to catch them? You don’t have pictures of who or what they look like, right?” A torrent of responses: “I’d beat them all.” “Directly. Without asking. They don’t take any notice of anything. Neither do we.” “Whether they’re good or bad.” “And I’d go hunting.” “Around 11 or 12 in the morning.” “Everybody is going who can.”

Although the majority of the chat is made up of men, there are also supposedly messages from women. User Lorenyta Nose writes: “Hi. I’m a girl who hates injustice and I’m trying to get all the guys I can from Murcia on Instagram. I guess I won’t be able to go since I’m a woman, but I’ve always been a fighter against injustice, so you can count on the group I’m creating.” The response is immediate: five applause emojis and a heart. Two users respond more harshly:

— They’re fucking disgusting. They’re garbage.

— We have to hunt them down now. These shitty people.

— I’ll go when you say so.

User Fede gives the order: “11 p.m. Tennis club. I’m going.”

The name of this group, Deport Them Now, belongs to an international platform. It’s not new. There’s also an Instagram profile with nearly 2,000 followers. “We’re still investigating their links to other Spanish groups,” explained Marcelino Madrigal, a network and cybersecurity expert, on Monday. “They have some characteristics that are very reminiscent of Russian disinformation groups. They saw what happened in Torre Pacheco as an opportunity. I think we’ll see these types of ultra-right mobilizations more and more often." Madrigal has found a list of more than 500 Spanish-language Telegram channels that reference, or are related to, Deport Them Now and that rapidly disseminate this type of content. “In total, we have referenced around 7,000 channels with their message history.”

There are users who claim to be from Valencia, and others from Barcelona. Federico notes the modus operandi on July 10: “This is the way it works. We meet today, and when they see us, more will join us tomorrow. We meet at 11 or 11:30 and we patrol, and after 12, everyone goes home. And whoever doesn’t want to go home wants trouble. We explain it to them differently. Tomorrow, more of the same, until one day we don’t see any of them. If we do that today with 20 guys, tomorrow there’ll be 30, and then 50.” One of them interrupts: “I’m from Pacheco, and with 20 of us, we can’t do anything.” Carlos goes all out: “Chacho, stop sending them home, what I want is to send them to the pine box.” In the following days, numerous photos are posted claiming to be taken in Torre Pacheco. There are hoaxes, and photos of Hitler. More meet-ups are arranged:

— Today at 10. Molino Park.

- Come on!

— heads will roll!

In recent hours, some users have been trolling by posting communist and Moroccan flags. Onlookers enter, barely speaking. The chat has accumulated over 21,000 posts. By 8:36 p.m. on Monday, messages are being deleted. Telegram has issued an order: this chat incites violence. It has since been shut down.

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