Spain plans stricter rules on asylum seekers in Ceuta after border crisis, draft decree shows

The decree, designed to speed up applications and deportations for over 10,000 migrants who remain in the tiny territory, would mark a major strategic shift for Spain's pro-immigration government.

Spain is planning to override standard migration procedures and tighten rules on asylum-seeking for migrants who arrived in its North African enclave of Ceuta in July's mass crossing, a draft decree seen by Reuters showed, prompting outcry from legal experts and NGOs.

The decree, designed to speed up applications and deportations for the over 10,000 migrants who remain in the tiny territory, would mark a major strategic shift for Spain's leftist, pro-immigration government, a staunch advocate of multilateral rules and institutions, as it struggles to contain the political fallout from the border crisis.

Spain's Interior Ministry declined to comment on the draft.

More than 70,000 people illegally crossed the border from Morocco into Ceuta via land and sea in late July in an unprecedented rush, rattling European leaders and exposing the limits of a recent overhaul of migration rules intended to tighten borders.

Under the measures in the draft, first leaked to Spanish newspaper El País and not yet confirmed, migrants appealing a rejected asylum application must do so from outside the country if the EU deems it safe, as is the case for Morocco, regardless of their personal circumstances.

New decree applies retroactively 

The decree, which would apply retroactively to migrants arriving since the mass crossing of July 30 and 31, also permits the government to skip a standardized review of asylum requests by a commission including representatives from the UN refugee agency.

Migrants' applications would be withdrawn if they were unreachable for five days and anyone deemed to have behaved in a "violent or threatening" manner would have their right to remain immediately revoked.

Asked at a news conference about plans to shorten processing timeframes for migrants, territorial policy minister Angel Victor Torres said the government was "analyzing the possibility" of a legislative amendment but that it was "not easy" because of questions of international law.

Spanish lawyers and NGOs decried the draft measures in statements to Reuters and other media, with 13 NGOs, including Spain's Commission for Assistance to Refugees (CEAR) and Oxfam, describing them as a "grave threat" to Spain's commitment to human rights conventions.