Associations of judges and magistrates insist that asylum requests must be examined individually, that is, "case by case," and warn that the fact of entering Spanish territory irregularly does not legitimize applying "mass denials" nor does it suppress the right to request international protection.
This position is shared by the Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), the majority in the judicial career, and by the Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), which have expressed this in response to questions from Europa Press about the situation of asylum seekers in Spain in the context of the Ceuta migration crisis.
Two weeks after the massive arrival in Ceuta of 80,000 people from Morocco between July 30 and 31, in which 83 people lost their lives, the president of the autonomous city, Juan José Vivas, called on the central government to reject the requests for the right of asylum submitted by migrants.
"Return to Morocco. No regularization, no asylum. That message must be absolutely clear," he stated, specifying that this decision is "a necessary condition" for "the present and for the future of Ceuta" and that, in the long term, it would allow "deactivating" the use of "migratory pressure" as a "weapon" to "destabilize."
Support from the PP for the suspension of asylum
Vivas's initiative has the public support of the national leadership of the PP. This Friday, the deputy secretary of Education and Equality of the party, Jaime de los Santos, defended the proposal, arguing that it does not contravene international regulations and that there are clear precedents within the European Union (EU).
De los Santos cited the example of Greece, a state that "also suspended the right of asylum for a specific temporary period and, precisely, with the countries of North Africa that threatened the security of its territory and, therefore, that of the entire EU."
In this scenario, the Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM) emphasizes that the Spanish legal system does allow for tightening and speeding up the processing of international protection requests at the border.
"What our regulations do not allow is to decide in advance that every person who has entered irregularly will be denied asylum. Each application must be able to be examined, because behind an irregular entry there may be a person who truly meets the requirements to obtain international protection," sources from the APM point out to Europa Press.
Irregular entry does not prevent requesting protection
In this regard, they remind that "one thing is that entering irregularly into Spain does not grant any right to remain and another different thing is that this irregular entry eliminates the right to request international protection." "They are two different legal planes," they emphasize.
On the other hand, the president of the Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), Roberto García Ceniceros, emphasizes that, although the resolution of asylum requests corresponds to the Government, it is "a figure designed to be studied on a case-by-case basis."
"Asylum should only be granted to those who meet the requirements, but without it seeming appropriate to agree to mass denials," concludes García Ceniceros in statements to Europa Press.