Spain0602

Human Rights Watch identified the most striking irregularities in the treatment of migrants in the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, where the government delegates wield significant and unchecked decision-making power with respect to immigration management.²⁴ Although the Spanish National Police in both cities report to the delegate and, in a majority of cases, have the first contact with migrants, they do not appear to have the authority to make decisions about the treatment of migrants. Rather, all decisions regarding migrants in the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla rest in the hands of the respective government delegates. Because government delegates represent the national government in the region over which they have control, including exercising control over immigration decisions, the central government based in Madrid exercises little oversight of their functions and activities.

Our research suggests that the government delegates and their staff lack clear and meaningful guidelines for exercising this power. For example, the chief of cabinet of the government delegate's office in Melilla was unable to articulate the basis for their decisions about which migrants would be expelled and which would be provided documentation to remain in Spain. Although the most recent transfer of 192 migrants to the peninsula had taken place only a few days prior to our meeting, Chief of Cabinet Rocío Rodríguez was unable to clarify the reasoning or describe the type of documents with which migrants had been transferred, noting only that, "Some leave with some documents; others [paused]. What is important is there are centers for migrants on the peninsula where they can get help."²⁵ She further explained that the government delegate's office must "study each case. Otherwise, you have to let them all in or none. . . . Also, for example, this office prefers to choose [migrants] that can integrate on the peninsula."²⁶

A representative of the national police in Melilla also testified to the absolute authority of the Government Delegate and the apparently arbitrary nature in which that authority is exercised. Asked about the treatment of different migrants under various circumstances, he told Human Rights Watch:

I cannot give an opinion; I just put into practice what I am told. But a person who gets in [the government's temporary residence facility] and has papers to go to the peninsula can be exactly the same as the person who is sent back to Morocco . . . or for whom we start an expulsion procedure . . . . Everything depends on the Delegate.²⁷

The lack of checks on the power to make immigration control decisions on the basis of Law 8/2000, in combination with isolated decision-making and an absence of transparent guidelines for implementation and coordination between the central government and Spain's many regions, have resulted in arbitrary differences in the treatment of the same migrant groups from one city to the next. The varying interpretation and application of Law 8/2000 is particularly pronounced in Ceuta and Melilla and, as detailed below, in connection with implementation of legal provisions relating to devolución (a form of immediate repatriation) and expulsión (expulsion).

24 Human Rights Watch has documented the role of government delegates in summary expulsions and other violations of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children in Ceuta and Melilla in Nowhere to Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco (May 2002). See Human Rights Watch Report, vol. 14, no. 4 (D), May 2002.

25 Human Rights Watch interview, Rocío Rodríguez Bayón, chief of cabinet, Office of the Government Delegate for the autonomous city of Melilla, Melilla, November 9, 2001.

27 Human Rights Watch interview, officer at the national police station in Melilla, Melilla, November 9, 2001.

THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT DELEGATES IN CEUTA AND MELILLA