Author
There are no provisions under Spanish law regarding alternatives to detention for asylum seekers; meaning applicants in CIE, penitentiary centres or ad hoc spaces at borders.
Under the Immigration Law,[1] the only cautionary alternative measures that can be taken concern foreigners who are subject to a disciplinary proceeding, under which removal could be proposed, and they are the following:
- Periodic presentation to the competent authorities;
- Compulsory residence in a particular place;
- Withdrawal of passport or proof of nationality;
- Precautionary detention, requested by the administrative authority or its agents, for a maximum period of 72 hours prior to the request for detention;
- Preventive detention, before a judicial authorisation in detention centres;
- Any other injunction that the judge considers appropriate and sufficient.
These alternatives are not applied in practice. As confirmed by the Global detention Project, there are long-standing concerns that authorities routinely fail to consider all criteria before imposing detention measures.[2]
Especially starting from 2020, many stakeholders called on the Government for the implementation of alternatives to migration detention, in particular following the closure of CIEs during the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated there are real alternatives to migration detention.
In mid- December 2024, the Jesuit Migrants Service organised a protest in Algeciras to ask for the closure of all CIEs, including the 500-capacity facility under construction in the city, and for calling for more human alternatives to be applied.[3]
[1] Article 61 Aliens Act.
[2] Global Detention Project, Country report Spain, May 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3sruJaU.
[3] La Voz de Cádiz, ‘El nuevo CIE de Algeciras, el más grande de España, despierta rechazo antes de su apertura’, 2 December 2024, available here.