General

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In recent years, the following numbers of individuals have been subjected to immigration detention:

According to the 2022 Annual Report of the Spanish Ombudsperson, 2,082 migrants were detained in 2022.^[7]

Persons already undergoing an asylum procedure are not detained. However, people who apply for asylum after being placed in detention, both in detention centres for foreigners, called Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros (CIE), and in penitentiary structures, remain detained pending the decision on admission to the asylum procedure. Thus, CIEs centres are theoretically not designed for the detention of asylum seekers, but rather for the detention of migrants who are found to be living without residence permit on the Spanish territory, or for those who are found to have entered irregularly the Spanish territory, and have to be expelled or repatriated under the Aliens Act. In 2023, 877 persons applied for asylum from CIEs.^[8]

The competent authority to authorise and, where appropriate, annul the placement in a CIE is the Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial) which has territorial jurisdiction over the place where detention is imposed. Moreover, the arrest of a foreigner shall be communicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy or consulate of the person detained, when detention is imposed with the purpose of return as a result of the refusal of entry.^[9]

If the applicant is detained, the urgent procedure will be applied, which halves the time limits for a decision (see Prioritised Examination). The quality of the asylum procedure when the application is made from detention is affected mostly in relation to access to information on international protection, which is not easily available, and access to legal assistance, as communication is not as easy as for asylum seekers at liberty. In addition, several shortcomings are due to the urgent procedure to which applicants are subject, as it hinders access to appeals once the application is rejected, and a subsequent order of removal is applied.

In practice, asylum seekers can also be detained if their international protection needs are not identified or if they have not access to the asylum procedure. By way of illustration, a former Algerian soldier and activist who arrived to Almería by boat in mid-February 2022, applied for asylum at the CIE of Valencia by claiming he was victim of torture in his country of origin. His two asylum applications were denied, so he lodged an appeal in front of the National Court (Audiencia Nacional), based inter alia on different reports issued by UNHCR, Doctors of the World and Phycologists without Borders which stated his delicate physical and psychological conditions, requesting his release. Despite the National Court ruling against his expulsion in mid-March, the expulsion order was executed. The director of the CIE informed that the deportation was carried out because of a mistake in the interpretation of the National Court’s decision.^[10] Different organisations, such as Amnesty International, not to deport him, as he would be at risk of torture in case to return to Algeria. After his return, the applicant was sentenced to the death penalty and confined while in prison.^[11] Amnesty International and the campaign ‘CIEsNO’ asked Spain to pressure Algeria to free the activist.^[12] He finally obtained a visa to return to Spain.^[13]

In Spain there are 7 CIEs which are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior. These facilities are located in Algeciras, Barcelona, Las Palmas, Madrid, Murcia, Tenerife, and Valencia, making up a total capacity of 1,288 places, according to data from 2021.^[14] It has to be noted that the total capacity can vary according to possible improvements’ works, temporary closures, maintenance works, etc. Between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, a prison in Archidona (near Málaga) was provisionally used as a CIE in order to respond to the increase in sea arrivals, while the CIE of Tarifa was permanently closed in 2020.

There have been several developments in 2023 and beginning of 2024 regarding CIEs:

• In January 2023, the reform of the CIE of Madrid started, with an estimate budget of more than EUR 800,000.^[15] After the closure of the facility, inmates have been transferred to another CIE, returned to their countries of origin or freed.^[16]
• During the same month, 21 out of the 22 migrants who fled from an airplane in Palma de Mallorca in November 2021 after the plane carried out an emergency landing in the island for an alleged medical urgency, will be transferred to the CIE of Barcelona. This is due to the decision taken by the Provincial Court of Baleares which ruled they should be freed after the reform of the crime of sedition.^[17] The migrant who faked the medical urgency was instead freed, as his deportation to Morocco cannot be carried out as he was charged with the crime of smuggling and is waiting for the result of the criminal proceeding.^[18] At least three among them applied for asylum at the CIE, alleging the risk of persecution (for political reasons and for sexual orientation) if returned to Morocco.^[19]
• In February 2023, the unit for women at the CIE of Barcelona was opened despite the lack of prior announcements. Twelve women, coming from different parts of Spain, were detained in it at the time of its opening. More than 100 organisations denounced the lack of transparency regarding such an opening and asked for its closure.^[20]
• During the same month, the General Council of Judiciary Power (Consejo General del Poder Judicial – CGPJ) in plenary endorsed unanimously the protocol for the forensic medical examination to be applied to persons in prison, as well as to persons detained at CIEs.^[21]
• The right-wing party registered a law proposal at the Congress which aims at prohibiting the right to apply for asylum at the CIE.^[22]
• In March 2023, the Platform CIEsNO reported that a young Moroccan man, who had been under the guardianship of the Autonomous Community of Madrid while underage, was detained for 1 month at the CIE of Valencia, despite the High Court of Madrid (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid) suspending his deportation.^[23] The political party Unidas Podemos also criticised the issue before the Congress.^[24] Following a claim lodged by the campaign CIEsNO, the Ombudsperson started an investigation into this detention.^[25]
• During the same month, the campaign CIEsNO denounced the risk for a homosexual man from Kosovo detained at the CIE of Valencia to be subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment if deported to Serbia.^[26] The man was detained despite the fact that he applied for international protection and was waiting for a decision on the claim.^[27]
• At the end of the month, the Coordination of the campaign CIEsNO of Cádiz organised a gathering in front of the CIE of Algeciras asking for the closure of CIEs and a decent welcome and reception of migrants.^[28]
• The construction works of a new CIE in Algeciras continued in 2023. The declarations of the Major of the Municipality, according to which the facility will be the most ‘social and human’ CIE in Spain, raised critics and concerns.^[29] During a visit carried out to the construction site, MEP Miguel Urbán defined the facility as the biggest prison in Europe and compared it to Guantanamo.^[30] It is expected that the new facility will start functioning before summer 2024,[31] probably during the spring period. The total cost for the construction of the facility has been 22 million Euros and took 10 years.[32]
• On the occasion of the Day against the Expulsion Centres, a call for the immediate and definitive closure of such facilities was made.^[33] The call was presented also in view of the municipal and regional elections in the Autonomous Community of Valencia by the campaign CIEsNO.^[34]
• In November, the Coordinator of the Platform CIEsNO organised a walk from the CIE of La Piñera in Algeciras to the new facility in construction at Botafuegos to protest against such facilities.^[35]
• After 11 months since its closure, the CIE of Aluche in Madrid reopened in December, following a refurbishment of the facility. The Platform CIEsNo expressed its opposition to the reopening.^[36]
• In commemoration of International Migrants’ Day, the Platform CIEsNO organised a protest in Valencia to ask for the closure of all CIEs and to denounce the lack of guarantees of migrants detained in such facilities.^[37]

In its 2022 annual report, the Spanish Ombudsperson continued to express concern over the conditions at CIEs, especially in relation to the access of inmates to health assistance and to the access to complaint mechanisms for mistreatments.^[38]

As regards deportations, an important decision was issued by the CJEU in October 2020. The Court ruled that, in light of the Immigration Law, Spain cannot expel migrants just for being undocumented, and that expulsion should be carried out only when aggravating circumstances exist.^[39] According to the 2022 annual report of the Public Prosecutor Office, almost half of the deportations of migrants detained in CIEs cannot be executed, thus the body recommended the National Police to carry out deeper investigations prior to detention, as well as to opt for alternative measures as set forth in the Immigration Law.[40] The same conclusion is indicated in an article published in April 2023, which also refers to evidence of deportations of persons in need of international protection or victims of trafficking.[41]

Asylum seekers may also be de facto detained in “areas of rejection at borders” (Salas de Inadmisión de fronteras) at international airports and ports for a maximum of 8 days, until a decision is taken on their right to enter the territory. A total of 3,386 persons applied at a border post or transit zone in 2023.^[42]

In October 2022, the Constitutional Court upheld the appeal lodged by a Moroccan migrant who arrived in the Canary Islands in December 2020; the Court established that his fundamental rights had been violated by the Police and the Instruction judge nº 5 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which did not grant him access to legal assistance while in the return procedure.^[43]

In June 2023, an investigation against the Chief of the National Police of Irún (Basque Country) was opened after he issued an order providing for days off to police officers who apprehended undocumented migrants.^[44]

In the same month, the passengers on a flight from Gran Canaria to Casablanca (Morocco) prevented the deportation of a migrant from Guinea Conakry.^[45]

^{[1] Ibidem.}

^{[2] Ibidem.}

^{[3] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2019. Diez años mirando a otro lado’, July 2020, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3LjIjtn.}

^{[4] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2020. Razón jurídica y sin razón política – Anexo’, June 2021, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3GXh451, 5.}

^{[5] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2021. Territorio hostil. Formas diversas de hostilidad en los CIE – Anexo de Cifras’, May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/40JQ5Sv.}

^{[6] Defensor del Pueblo, ‘Informe anual 2022 – Volumen I’, March 2023, p. 168, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3Kcqaf1.}

^{[7] Ibidem.}

^{[8] Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, Dirección General de Política Interior, ‘Avance de datos de protección internacional, aplicación del Reglamento de Dublín y reconocimiento del estatuto de apátrida. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2023’, January 2024, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/34jtmrh8.}

^{[9] Articles 60(4) and 62(5) Aliens Act.}

^{[10] El Periódico, ‘Interior desobedece a la Audiencia Nacional y deporta desde Valencia a un argelino que denunció torturas’, 23 May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3JxneJq.}

^{[11]  Cadena Ser, ‘Un tribunal militar de Argel condena a pena de muerte al activista Mohamed Benhalima, que deportó España’, 14 May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3bwMD9o; El Español, ‘El disidente argelino que deportó Marlaska cumple 3 semanas en aislamiento “desnutrido y aturdido”’, 6 June 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3vzEGqP.}

^{[12] Cope, ‘Amnistía pide a España presionar a Argelia para liberar a condenado a muerte’, 17 May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3zVIsgy; Levante, ‘CIEs NO pide el retorno “urgente” del argelino deportado en contra de la Audiencia Nacional’, 24 May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3BFRkrV.}  

^{[13] Público, ‘El argelino deportado por Interior en contra de la Audiencia Nacional consigue el visado para volver a España’, 26 May 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3bABuEp.} 

^{[14] Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones, ‘Marco Estratégico de Redacción del Programa Nacional de España en el Fondo De Asilo, Migración e Integración para el periodo 2021-2027’, 2021, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3InWb2d, 39.}

^{[15] El Español, ‘Interior gastará más de 800.000 € en remodelar el CIE de Madrid que Podemos pide cerrar’, 5 January 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3Wg0mT9.}

^{[16] Tele Madrid, ‘Cierra el centro de extranjería de Aluche cinco meses por obras’, 17 January 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3XJDi0y.} 

^{[17] Europa Press, ‘Los migrantes huidos de un avión en Palma serán trasladados este miércoles a un CIE de Barcelona’, 18 January 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3GViaxc.}

^{[18] Europa Press, ‘El migrante que provocó la huida de otros 21 de un avión en Palma queda en libertad al no poder ser expulsado del país’, 18 January 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3HdJaJM.}

^{[19] Diario de Mallorca, ‘Varios migrantes del avión patera de Son Sant Joan piden en el CIE asilo político en España’, 21 January 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3WuE6Fi.}

^{[20] Público, ‘Denuncian la apertura por sorpresa del módulo de mujeres del CIE de Barcelona’, 21 February 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3Kzohe8.}

^{[21] La Vanguardia, ‘El CGPJ pide aplicar el protocolo forense a los detenidos en prisiones y CIE’, 23 February 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3INWUvA.}

^{[22] Europa Press, ‘Vox quiere prohibir que las solicitudes de protección o asilo se puedan pedir desde los CIE, 17 February 23, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3Kuq986.}

^{[23] Público, ‘Encierran un mes en el CIE de València a un joven marroquí extutelado a pesar de que un juez suspendió su expulsión’, 9 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3ZZ3QM3; Europa Press, ‘CIEs NO denuncia el encierro durante un mes en Zapadores de un joven extutelado que tenía suspendida la expulsión’, 8 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3ZYlNdI.}

^{[24] La Vanguardia, ‘Unidas Podemos denuncia en el Congreso el caso del joven extutelado que estuvo un mes encerrado en el CIE de Zapadores’, 9 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3yFofdJ.}

^{[25] El Salto Diario, ‘El Defensor del Pueblo investiga el encierro ilegal en el CIE Zapadores durante un mes de un joven extutelado’, 8 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/mtscr52m.}

^{[26] El Diario, ‘Un homosexual kosovar encerrado en el CIE de Valencia, en riesgo de “tratos inhumanos” si es deportado a Serbia’, 15 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3ThiCMl.}

^{[27] Levante, ‘Ordenan la expulsión a un solicitante de asilo por su orientación sexual que no puede regresar a Kosovo’, 15 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3YMVIxf.}

^{[28] Algeciras al minuto, ‘La Coordinadora CIEs No se concentra mañana en Algeciras’, 23 March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/3fhkf4tc.}

^{[29] Izquierda Diario, ‘Racismo: El Estado español albergará el CIE “más social y más humanizado”,’ 15 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/ye22db4y; Viva Jaén, ‘La construcción del nuevo CIE de Algeciras encara su recta final’, 26 October 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/mv86x2ux.}

^{[30] Europa Sur, ‘Miguel Urbán denuncia que el nuevo CIE de Algeciras será “un auténtico Guantánamo”’, 26 April 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/bdfyep9z.}

^{[31]  Europa Sur, ‘El nuevo CIE de Algeciras se prepara para entrar en funcionamiento antes del verano’, 30 January 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ye27838c.}

^{[32] El Correo de Andalucía, ‘Diez años y 22 millones de euros después, Algeciras tendrá el CIE más grande de España’, 2 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yc7zm5hy.}

^{[33] Público, ‘Nos sobran razones para el cierre de los CIES en España’, 15 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/2v8aknah.}

^{[34] Cadena Ser, ‘Reclaman a los partidos valencianos más presión para que el Gobierno central cierre el CIE de Zapadores’, 6 May 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/ye9x7eyn.}

^{[35] Europa Sur, ‘Una marcha demanda en Algeciras el cierre de los Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros’, 4 November 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/y4fztpfa.}

^{[36] Madrid Press, ‘Reabre el CIE de Aluche tras casi un año de obras’, 11 December 2023, available at:  https://tinyurl.com/bdfwb9nr.}

^{[37] El Diario, ‘Una protesta exige en València el cierre de los CIE y “políticas dignas” que “no criminalicen” la migración’, 17 December 2023, available at:  https://tinyurl.com/3ymvz2ac; Cadena Ser, ‘Entidades sociales denuncian que el CIE de Zapadores sigue sin garantizar “una vida digna” a las personas internas’,  17 December 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/29nzs7fs.}

^{[38] Defensor del Pueblo, ‘Informe anual 2022 – Volumen I’, March 2023, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3U9Dvt8.}

^{[39] Court of Justice of the European Union, Case C‑568/19, Judgement 8 October 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3avGw1H; El País, ‘Una sentencia europea impide a España expulsar inmigrantes solo por estar en situación irregular’, 13 November 2020, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3s9Dkia.}

^{[40] Fiscalía General del Estado, ‘Memoria elevada al Gobierno de S. M. presentada al inicio del año judicial por el Fiscal General del Estado Excmo. Sr. Don Álvaro García Ortiz’, September 2023, p. 1148, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ms9cyha5.}

^{[41] Laura Zanón, ‘Los CIE: instrumentos de sufrimiento inútil’, April 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4ekdvxab, 17.}

^{[42] Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, Dirección General de Política Interior, ‘Avance de datos de protección internacional, aplicación del Reglamento de Dublín y reconocimiento del estatuto de apátrida. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2023’, January 2024, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/34jtmrh8.}

^{[43] El País, ‘El Constitucional ampara a un inmigrante que iba a ser devuelto a Marruecos sin la asistencia de un abogado’, 6 October 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3VOngRU; Epe, ‘El Constitucional recrimina a la Policía y un juzgado que vulneraran los derechos de un migrante’, 24 October 2022, available in Spanish at: https://bit.ly/3iDN1Gk.}

^{[44] Público, ‘Expedientan a un jefe de Policía que ofreció días libres por cada migrante detenido en Irun’, 7 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/f8st4pbc; Diario Vasco, ‘Concentración en Irun contra «la caza del migrante»’, 11 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/4xrzybsy,.}

^{[45] El Diario, ‘Un motín de los pasajeros de un avión de Air Maroc frustra la deportación de una persona migrante de Guinea Conakry desde Gran Canaria’, 3 June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/c8a4y33n.}