🇪🇸 Spain · Barcelona

CIE Barcelona (Zona Franca)

Migrant centre Former business 📍 Carrer E, 40, Zona Franca, Sants-Montjuïc, 08040 Barcelona Capacity: 226 Converted: 2006

Was: Constructed in the Zona Franca industrial and logistics estate to replace the former La Verneda police detention facility.

CIE Barcelona (Zona Franca) is a Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros (Immigration Detention Centre) situated in the Zona Franca industrial estate in Barcelona, Spain. It was inaugurated in 2006 to serve as a pre-removal administrative detention facility.

Context & Controversy: The facility is managed by the Spanish Ministry of Interior through the Policía Nacional. It is used to detain undocumented migrants and those with rejected asylum claims pending deportation. The centre has been highly controversial; local authorities, including the Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Ombudsman (Síndic de Greuges), alongside human rights organizations, have repeatedly requested its closure following hunger strikes, protests, and ongoing reports of inadequate medical care and human rights violations.

Operations: As a closed detention facility, individuals are held under administrative, not criminal, law. Despite its original structural capacity of 226 places (148 men and 78 women), operational limits are often adjusted, with recent caps placing the capacity closer to 158.

Location

Official contacts & outreach

Requests we have sent to councils, mayors and local authorities about this facility, with the status of their response.

Ministerio del Interior (Portal de Transparencia) Other Awaiting response

Requested: 8 Oct 2026

What we asked: 1. Please provide a detailed demographic and statistical breakdown (including country of origin and religious affiliation, if recorded) of the individuals detained at the facility since 2020.
2. What was the total financial expense, including maintenance and outsourcing contracts, for the operation of the CIE Barcelona over the last three financial years?
3. Please provide copies of any formal community consultation documents, environmental impact assessments, or correspondence with the Barcelona City Council regarding the local community's consent and infrastructural impact prior to the facility's inauguration and during its ongoing operation.

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