Author
Children shall not be detained as a rule,[1] but the Immigration Law foresees the possibility of detaining families with children.[2] Similarly, as already mentioned, unaccompanied or separated migrant children are never detained in CIEs, unless they are not identified as minors before detention.
Although detention of asylum seekers or vulnerable categories is not explicitly allowed by law, in practice several exceptions have been reported concerning unaccompanied children and victims of trafficking. This is due to the lack of identification of the minor age of the person, or of their status of victim of trafficking. For example, according to the 2024 annual report issued by the Jesuit Migrant Service, in 2024 two presumed children underwent age assessment tests while in detention at the CIE in Murcia, and none of them was identified as being minor. It also reported that in five occasions, the protocol for detecting victims of trafficking was applied (twice at the CIE in Barcelona and three times at the CIE in Madrid), but none of those individuals were identified as victims. [3]
Nonetheless, when they are identified as minors or victims of trafficking while they are in detention, they are released and handled to the competent protection systems. In addition, applicants such as pregnant women or persons requiring assistance may be exempted from the border procedure and admitted to the territory in specific cases.
[1] Article 62(4) Aliens Act.
[2] Article 62-bis(1)(i) Aliens Act. The part of this provision, referring to the need for CIE to guarantee family unity, has been set aside by the Supreme Court: Tribunal Supremo, Application 373/2014, 10 February 2015.
[3] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘RAÍCES TRAS LOS MUROS. Un modelo fallido de privación de libertad, falto de transparencia y garantías. Informe CIE 2024’, 30 September 2025, available here.