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Foreigner Detention Centres (CIE)
As already explained above in the General section on detention, there are 7 Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros (CIE) in Spain.[1] These facilities are located in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Algeciras, Las Palmas, and Tenerife.
Police stations and CATE
Persons arriving in Spain by sea and automatically issued with detention orders are detained in police stations for a period of 72 hours with a view to the execution of removal measures. Police stations in Málaga, Tarifa, Almería and Motril are mainly used for that purpose.
As mentioned in Access to the Territory, in June 2018 the Spanish Government put in place new resources to manage arrivals and to carry out the identification of persons’ vulnerabilities in the first days of arrival. Specific facilities for emergency and referral include the Centres for the Temporary Assistance of Foreigners (Centros de Atención Temporal de Extranjeros, CATE) and the Centres for Emergency Assistance and Referral (Centros de Atención de Emergencia y Derivación, CAED). While CAED are open facilities, CATE operate under police surveillance and persons cannot go out until they have been identified. As reported by the Spanish Ombudsperson, CATEs are not properly regulated and do not fall under specific protocols, as they are considered as “extensions” of National Police stations.[2]
After the closure of the Arguineguín dock, which was used as the first place for reception of migrants reaching the Canary Islands, the CATE of Barranco Seco was opened.
In its 2023 annual report, the Spanish Ombudsperson reported on the deterioration of the state of the facility of the CATE in Tenerife.[3] It also remarked that the CATE in El Hierro just counted with emergency facilities that were overcrowded and in poor conditions, and that the Directorate-General of the National Police informed about the construction of a new CATE, following a recommendation made by the Ombudsperson in previous years.
Information on observations and recommendations made by the institution to the CATEs are mentioned in the section on Arrivals by sea.
UNHCR continued to highlight the need to improve the mechanisms at the CATEs, with the aim of ensuring the possibility for persons in need of protection to apply for asylum during their initial 72 hours in the country, which has so far been hindered.[4]
Border facilities
Applicants at borders are also detained in ad hoc facilities during the admissibility phase and in any case for no more than 8 days. According to the OAR, operational transit zones are mainly those in Madrid Adolfo Suárez Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport, accommodating up to 200 and 10 people respectively.[5]
There is evidence of one “non-admission room” (Sala de Inadmisión de Fronteras) in Barcelona El Prat Airport, one room in Málaga Airport and two rooms in Terminals 1 and 4 of the Madrid Barajas Airport.[6] These rooms are owned by the public company AENA and are guarded by agents of the National Police.
[1] For more information on CIE, see Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2023. Internamiento “muteado”. Personas cuyo sufrimiento queda oculto a la sociedad’, June 2024, available here.
[2] Defensor del Pueblo, ‘Informe anual 2019. Mecanismo Nacional de Prevención’, October 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3p6qWxH, 66.’
[3] Defensor del Pueblo, ‘Informe anual del Defensor del Pueblo 2023 – Volumen I’, March 2024, p. 177, available here.
[4] US Department of State, 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Spain, 20 March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3mpsNCl.
[5] Information provided by OAR, 8 March 2019.
[6] Defensor del Pueblo, Mapa de los centros de privación de libertad, 5 February 2018, available at: http://bit.ly/2EDjc30.