One legal framework, multiple realities: the uneven implementation of migration law in Spain

As showcased in our recent articles about the treatment of migrant people arriving on the Canary islands and other border contexts across Spain, international, European, and national law regarding human rights and migration are constantly being violated. These violations are not isolated incidents: they are becoming the norm.

What is particularly striking, however, is the extent to which international and national legislation is interpreted and implemented unevenly across Spain. Migrant people arriving on the Canary Islands are received differently from  those on the mainland, and even within the mainland, there are stark differences between regions such as Catalunya and Andalucía.

These divergences cannot be simply explained by law alone: Spain is technically governed by the same immigration rules nationwide. Understanding these differences requires looking beyond law and examining how geography, capacity and resources, political priorities and public perception shape its application.

Migration Routes to Spain 

The routes people take to reach Spain play a decisive role in shaping the conditions they receive upon arrival. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands is now the most dangerous and fastest growing route. According to official data, over 45,000 people arrived via boat in 2025, predominantly from West African countries, such as Senegal, Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire (The Guardian, 2025). 

The Western Mediterranean route sees people arriving in Andalucia from or via Morocco and Algeria, or via Spain’s enclaves in Ceuta and Melilla.There are also land and air arrivals, though smaller in scale, which are often more relevant to regions like Catalonia. 

These routes shape the immediate and long-term realities of reception. In the Canary islands, arrivals are met with overcrowded and under-resourced centres. In Ceuta and Melilla, poor conditions and neglect in reception centres have contributed to child homelessness. In Andalucía, many migrant people find work in the large agricultural sector but often end up living in informal settlements with highly precarious living conditions. In Catalonia, municipal governments such as Barcelona’s have created more proactive receptions programmes, ensuring faster access to education, housing and social services for migrant people, particularly unaccompanied minors (Quiroga,Chagas,Arranz, Casas-Martí, 2025). These different realities are striking considering that all regions are under the same national and European legal framework.

National Legal Frameworks 

The main national legislation that impacts newcomers arriving to Spain rests mainly on three legal instruments. Together, they illustrate the persistent gap between formal rights and practical access to them:

• The Ley Orgánica 4/2000 deems those arriving by boat as entering irregularly but not illegally, and removed irregular residence as grounds for expulsion (Vickstrom, 2019). 

This law grants certain social rights to undocumented migrants through Padrón registration, but for those arriving by boat to the Canary Islands, obtaining a registered address proves difficult. As a result, what appears to be a progressive guarantee is, in reality, out of reach for those who need it most. Only 11 months after its creation, Ley Orgánica 8/2000 reintroduced expulsion for irregular residence or work, reigniting fear and uncertainty for migrant people arriving by boat in Spain (Vickstrom, 2019).

• Entering into force in May 2025, the Royal Decree 1155/2024, did, in fact, try to improve migrants’ legal status by clarifying procedures for residence and work permits. While framed as a reform, there is yet little evidence that this has improved the lives of refugees arriving to Spain, nor seen a shift in the way both unaccompanied minors and adults are treated. Accounts of people working on the ground in the Canaries or in Ceuta, as reported in previous articles in this series, unaccompanied migrants are stuck in limbo in inadequate temporary reception centres (CATE) where there are systematic violations of fundamental rights and a culture of neglect (Novact, 2022). In contrast, the decree has already been reported as beneficial to “expats” in Spain (Fine & Country, 2025). This disparity reinforces a deeply rooted distinction between “good” and “bad” migrants, shaped by colonial and racial hierarchies that privilege certain forms of mobility while criminalising others.

• The Criminal Code, Article 318 bis, penalises helping non-EU citizens to enter, transit, or stay in Spain “irregularly.” The law allows a “purely humanitarian” exception, but the vague definition has created a legal ‘grey zone’. Support organisations, including NGOs, grassroots collectives, and even individual volunteers, have reported harassment and intimidation despite their work being humanitarian in nature. This mirrors similar trends seen in Italy and Greece, where the criminalisation of solidarity has been used as a deterrent against migrant support networks (PICUM).

International legal frameworks

Beyond national law, Spain is bound by international and European frameworks designed, in principle, to protect people on the move. The key examples are the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which obligate signatories like Spain to protect people fleeing persecution. Similarly, the EU asylum acquis, including the Procedures, Reception Conditions, and Qualification Directives, sets minimum standards of protection of migrant and refugee people for all member states.

Through 10 legislative acts, The New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum intends to create a fairer and stronger coordination system around migration, including greater solidarity between member states through shared responsibility for arrivals through relocation or financial contributions. So far, in the Canary islands this has translated primarily into a focus on relocation, often at the expense of adequate and humane support for migrant people who continue to live in limbo on the islands. 

The pact’s emphasis on fast identification, vulnerability checks, and rapid decisions about transfers carries particular risks in border regions like the Canary Islands compared to the mainland. What is presented as efficiency can, in practice, undermine access to protection and exacerbate existing harm. Overcrowded centres, thousands of children living in precarious conditions without access to education or healthcare : what we are witnessing in the Canary Islands is the implementation of the new EU pact being undermined by the political realities. 

In 2025, the Spanish government launched a redistribution plan to relocate nearly 6,000 minors from the Canary Islands and Ceuta to other regions. However, how these unaccompanied minors are “screened” and selected remains open to interpretation. In a climate of rising anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by right-wing politicians and media, “screening” can be interpreted as a system for prioritising removal rather than protection of asylum seekers. Quick and ‘efficient’ removal is as far removed from solidarity as it is from being humane and dignified.

The power of Politics, Media, and Public Perception

Law does not operate in a vacuum: its implementation is profoundly shaped by politics and media narratives. With right-wing rhetoric on the rise, migrant people are often framed as an “invasion,” playing into the particularly acute anxieties linked to islands such as the Canaries. 

Meanwhile, on the mainland in Andalucía, migration intersects with labour exploitation in the agricultural sector and the far-right narrative of “criminal” migrants. The murder of a social worker in Badajoz by three minors in 2025 has been instrumentalised by far-right political parties to paint all migrant children as dangerous, significantly influencing attitudes towards immigration in the region (ARA, 2025). While the regional government has introduced plans aimed at social inclusion of migrant communities, political backlash has hindered their implementation. As detailed in a previous article in the series, right-wing parties in the region have repeatedly instrumentalised migration to fuel hostility and block reform. Such narratives obscure structural failures while legitimising inhumane responses.

In comparison, historical memory of exile during the Civil War in Catalonia has helped shape more solidaristic policies, though these too are under pressure from rising anti-immigrant sentiment (IEMed, Collective Memory, Migrations and Catalonia). 

Earlier this year, European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, stated: “We need to focus on legal migration. We desperately need legal migrants for our labour markets… let’s differentiate between legal migration, which is something we need, and irregular migration, which is something we have to fight.” His framing reinforces the binary between ‘legal’ and ‘irregular’ people, a distinction that implicitly designates some migrants as deserving and others as illegitimate, further fueling anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe. By focusing on the manner of arrival rather than the circumstances driving it, this narrative contributes to a hierarchy of worthiness in which those who arrive irregularly are treated as less entitled to protection, support, and basic rights, despite the international frameworks that are designed to guarantee them (Jiménez, 2025).

Moving forward: how can we ensure the rights of migrant people are protected and upheld?

The situations in the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla and Andalucía make clear that the same legal frameworks can produce very different outcomes. Violations are widespread but uneven, shaped by geography, politics and public perception. Ensuring that the rights of migrant people are upheld therefore requires more than legal instruments. 

Relocation of unaccompanied minors from Spain’s border regions to the mainland must include adequate resources and proper safeguards. Article 318 bis needs reform so that those offering humanitarian assistance are not criminalised. Basic rights such as housing, healthcare, education and legal support must be guaranteed immediately and consistently across all regions from the moment of arrival.

There also needs to be a serious engagement with the historical and structural factors, including colonialism, that continue to drive migration. A shift in narrative is also crucial, moving away from the idea of migration as a threat and towards a framework based on rights and shared responsibility. 

Laws and conventions alone are not enough. Without political will and a commitment to humane practice, they fail to protect the people they are meant to serve. Real change has to come from political commitments but in the meantime a huge weight of this will fall on the invaluable support of NGOs through their work on the ground and in challenging and influencing policy changes. Below are organisations in both the Canary Islands and mainland Spain whose vital work you can support through donations or volunteering:

• OCC is a grassroots organisation based in Catalonia that supports refugee and migrant people through cultural, educational, and social inclusion programmes.
• CREATE is a project funded by the EU, aiming to support unaccompanied minors by offering tailored language classes to help their social and labour inclusion.
• Accem runs a large humanitarian reception centre on Tenerife, offering legal support, psychological help, and health assistance. 
• Cáritas Canarias supports immigrants and refugees, including victims of human trafficking, and runs accommodation programmes.
• Fundación Sevilla Acoge helps immigrants and refugees integrate into society, advocating for their rights and offering support for social inclusion.
• Solidary Wheels an NGO which reports human rights violations carried out along the Spanish/Moroccan border.
• No Name Kitchen, based in Ceuta, works to collect information about the conditions migrant children are experiencing in the minors’ centres and support those living on the streets. 
• Refugees Welcome Spain, connects displaced people with locals with spare rooms, ensuring housing for refugees as well as promoting a culture of connection and solidarity 

Bibliography:

Agence France-Presse in Madrid. (2025, January 2). Number of migrants arriving in Canary Islands by sea set new record in 2024. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/02/arrivals-by-sea-to-canary-islands-reached-new-record-in-2024

Vickstrom, E.R. (2019). Evolution of Immigration-Control Policies in France, Italy, and Spain. In: Pathways and Consequences of Legal Irregularity. IMISCOE Research Series.

Lo Coco, M. D., Calderó Delgado, C., & Samy Cucurull, I. (2024). Infancia migrante y criminalización: vulneración de derechos humanos en Canarias 2024 [Migrant childhood and criminalization: violations of human rights in the Canary Islands]. Novact. https://novact.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Infancia-migrante-y-criminalizacion.pdf

Fine & Country. (2025). Spain’s new immigration reform: A positive shift for expats in 2025. Fine & Country España. Retrieved from https://www.fineandcountry.es/en/insights/blog/spains-new-immigration-reform-a-positive-shift-for-expats-in-2025-2#:~:text=Streamlined%20Procedures%20and%20Stronger%20Rights,reflects%20Spain’s%20broader%20integration%20goals.

PICUM. (2024, January 15). At least 117 people criminalised for helping migrants in Europe in 2023. PICUM. https://picum.org/blog/at-least-117-people-criminalised-for-helping-migrants-in-europe-in-2023/

IEMed. Collective Memory, Migrations and Catalonia [Event]. IEMed. Retrieved from https://www.iemed.org/events/collective-memory-migrations-and-catalonia/

ARA (2025) Tres menores detenidos por la muerte de una educadora en un piso tutelado en Badajoz. extremadura.europapress.es. Available at: https://www.europapress.es/extremadura/noticia-detenidos-tres-menores-muerte-educadora-piso-tutelado-badajoz-20250310093511.html (Accessed: date).

Jiménez, I. (2025) ‘Europa pide a España que “resuelva” la situación de los menores migrantes’, El Faro de Ceuta, 17 February. Available at: https://elfarodeceuta.es/europa-pide-espana-resuelva-situacion-menores-migrante

Quiroga, V., Chagas, E., Arranz, M., & Casas-Martí, J. (2025). From a reception model to a care model for unaccompanied migrant adolescents and youth in Spain. Residential Treatment For Children & Youth, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/0886571X.2025.2541399

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/05/14/the-council-adopts-the-eu-s-pact-on-migration-and-asylum