Spain’s socialist government is instructing that prisons expedite the processing of mass amnesty applications filed by foreign prisoners, multiple local outlets reported Monday.
The Spanish government is presently on the first days of its widely-rejected process to grant amnesty to half a million illegal migrants in Spain, granting them with legal residence status and work permits provided that the migrant complies with a very lax series of requirements and that the application is submitted before the June 30 deadline.
El Español reports that, while the Spanish government is yet to make any official announcement on the matter, it has obtained a copy of a internal document from the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions (SGIP) urging prisons to identify foreign inmates who may be eligible for the amnesty and to “actively cooperate in processing their cases.”
The SGIP document was reportedly signed by Miguel Ángel Vicente Cuenca, Director General of Correctional Services and Social Reintegration. The outlet explained that although the document does not introduce any regulatory changes to existing norms, it contains instructions requiring prisons to become involved in the administrative processing of the inmates’ amnesty applications and to “strengthen coordination with immigration offices and government regional offices.”
According to El Español, the document states that the goal is to “prevent inmates from remaining in an undocumented status after serving their sentences — a situation that would hinder their reintegration.”
The measure, the newspaper stressed, would affect a significant group of people, as over 15,000 of Spain’s prison population is foreign born — more than 30 percent of the total, with most coming from Morocco and Algeria.
The Spanish newspaper La Gaceta also reported that it had reviewed a copy of the same internal documentation from SGIP signed by Vicente Cuenca urging prisons to expedite amnesty applications presented by foreign inmates.
Both outlets explained that they also reviewed a copy of a letter signed by the “Your abandonment could kill me” (TAMPM) penitentiary system syndicate denouncing the Spanish penitentiary prison authorities for acting “swiftly” to benefit inmates while remaining “silent” on labor demands presented by the prison staff such as improved working conditions or recognition as law enforcement officers while expressing the strong discontent among the staff.
Illegal migrants who seek to receive amnesty from the Spanish government must provide proof that they were in the country before January 1, 2026 and that they have resided in Spain continuously for at least five months prior to the date of application. Additionally, they must show that they have “no criminal record and do not pose a threat to public order, public safety, or public health.”
Despite the criminal records requirements, the newspaper El Mundo reported on Friday that illegal migrants with criminal records may still be eligible to receive amnesty thanks to new reforms to the Spanish immigration rules presented by the government that read, “The mere presence of a criminal record in the police report shall not, in and of itself, automatically constitute grounds for denying authorization.”
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