The Jesuit Migrant Service presents the CIE Report 2023 Mutated Internment
The difficult situation in which migrants detained in the Detention Centers for Foreigners (CIE) in Spain find themselves is outside the political debate, is ignored by the mainstream media and is unknown to the majority of the population. The Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM) once again draws attention to this reality with the CIE Report 2023. Muted internmentpresented on June 10 in the Congress of Deputies. For yet another year, the report reflects the problems detected by the groups of volunteers who visit the inmates in the CIE of Madrid, Valencia, Algeciras and Barcelona, with the double objective of accompanying these people and collecting their testimonies, in order to identify and report violations of rights.
Last year, 2,021 men and 64 women were hospitalized. Two minors were identified and 877 detainees requested asylum. The average stay in the centers was just over 30 days, and of every ten people interned, six ended up being expelled from the country and four released. “Why this cruel and ineffective suffering?” questioned Josep Buades Fuster, one of the authors of the report, which indicates that only a third of the people expelled from the Spanish State during 2023 did so from CIE.
María Morell, lawyer, coordinator of the SJM team that visits the Valencia-Zapadores CIE and co-author of the report, described the conditions in which the inmates live, the majority with deep roots in Spain – “some with more than 20 years in the country»–, emphasizing the concern about the lack of attention to mental health problems. «Inmates at CIE face in an unplanned manner dynamics characterized by depersonalization, uncertainty, confusion and isolation in a tense situation. The CIE generate a negative impact on the mental health of people who are detained or exacerbate those problems they already had. “They generate long-term psychological damage, such as feelings of insecurity, depression or anxiety.”
Paloma Aguilera, a retired doctor and volunteer, shared complaints from the people visited, such as humiliating treatment by police officers – “They are called by a number and not by their names, they receive racist insults, they are handcuffed for transfers to the hospital or for any management”– or poor hygienic conditions –“One razor blade for four people, dirt on the sheets and blankets, prohibition of showering as punishment…”–. He also highlighted the obstacles that social entities encounter in carrying out visits.
The SJM’s position is clear and calls for them to be closed. «It is an unnecessary and costly measure. It is unfair and generates a lot of suffering,” Buades concluded. «The more we know about internment in the CIE, the more convinced we are that this institution should be put to an end. In the meantime, we have a lot to do.
In the image above, from left to right, Iván Lendrino, Paloma Aguilera, Josep Buades and María Morell at the presentation of the SJM 2023 Report on CIE in Spain. Photography: Javier Sánchez Salcedo
