TIE cards, Catalan lessons and deportations: Catalonia's new immigration powers
This week the Spanish government reached a deal with Catalan separatists to give greater migration controls to the northern region.
The agreement will include expanded powers for Catalan police in border controls, migrant detention centres and residency permits, among other measures.
The law still requires full ratification in the Spanish Congress, which means the handover of immigration responsibilities to Catalonia is still far from certain.
For supporters of the Socialist-headed national government, this represents a functioning state delegating powers.
Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, said this week that 'border control is not being ceded. The Mossos [Catalonia's regional police force] will be present and will act in collaboration with the rest of the state security forces. And that is a sign that the state is functioning.'
For critics, however, the move is a further concession from Madrid to separatists propping up Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's fragile coalition in Congress.
The transfer of immigration powers fulfils another major demand of pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya.
Celebrating the agreement as a step on the way to independence, exiled Junts party leader Carles Puigdemont said from Brussels: "Our political system and our institutional system will manage a power that only states exercise.'
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the opposition centre-right Partido Popular, described the deal as an "unprecedented humiliation" for Spain that serves to "widen inequality between Spaniards."
Far-left Podemos, the former junior coalition partner in government, has also attacked the deal and raised doubts about whether its deputies will support it in a vote.
It should be noted here that despite their outsized influence in the national Congress, in particular their ability to essentially block government legislation and, neither of Catalonia's two major separatist parties (Junts and the left-wing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) are in power in the Generalitat.
In August 2024 the Catalan Socialists won regional elections and removed the independence majority, ending years of separatist dominance and, according to some, finally moving on from the independence Procés. That is to say, despite the granting of these bolstered immigration powers, they will, for now, be implemented by a non-separatist Generalitat.
So what immigration powers could Catalonia gain?
Border controls
One of the headline measures in the deal is that Mossos d'Esquadra will partly take power over border and security controls in airports and ports in the region.
As Saiz was keen to highlight, this will be done in coordination with Spain's national police body, so is therefore not a total transfer of powers. The Mossos will, despite taking on new roles, still be adhering to state law.
The deal also includes an increase of 1,800 Mossos agents, taking the force to a total of 26,800 officers.
Residency permits and TIE cards
The regional authority will also take some control of managing and issuing residency permits and TIE, the foreign identity cardsin Spain.
Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia reports that the regional government will reportedly set up a "one-stop shop" for the issuing of long-term stay, temporary residency, long-term residence permits and NIEs (foreigner identity numbers).
Deportations and migrant detention centres
Catalonia will now also be responsible for control of migrant detention centres and deporting undocumented migrants.
The Generalitat will also manage the controversial Internment Centre for Foreigners (CIE) in Barcelona, the only one in the region. If the law is passed, the Catalan administration will be in charge of the direction, coordination, management and inspection of the centre, which is currently run by the Interior Ministry.
The Catalan government will be given powers to appoint public employees at the centre, including security, health, social, legal, cultural and linguistic services.
Learning Catalan
On that theme, Junts is also pushing for rules to make residency conditional on a Catalan language requirement.
Party spokeswoman Miriam Nogueras told Spanish state TV that foreigners may need to prove a certain level of Catalan in order to be eligible for residency, and did not make any distinction between EU and non-EU migrants.
"We are in Catalonia, and in Catalonia, there is an official language, which is Catalan. In the same way that if you go to live in France, the condition is to learn French," Nogueras said.
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