Thirty-four people, leaders of various Latin American gangs based in Madrid, are reportedly scheduled to be deported from Spain in the coming weeks as part of the regional government’s strategy for breaking up violent criminal networks, two of these to take place almost immediately.
The first two deportations will take place immediately after the successful conclusion of all the necessary administrative and judicial procedures in both cases. The two individuals will also be banned from entering Spain for a period of between five and 10 years.
All gang members facing deportation proceedings will have their Spanish citizenship or residency permits revoked before they are expelled. At least six of those to be deported have already been sentenced to prison terms after being convicted for various crimes.
The Foreign Nationals Act in Spain is heavily geared to the protection of the rights of migrants and the general deportation process could take up to six months, with appeals being allowed at every stage of the process, and even after the entire process has been completed.
However, it looks like that, in the end, out they will go. This begs the question as to why the UK, also an EU member state, seems to be unable to deport its undesirables, including killers and rapists. One forever reads that, for example, Mr X, a convicted killer, cannot be deported because he has a cat or it would deprive him of a normal family life.
Most of the reported cases involve more serious offences than being a member of a gang, so how can the deportations succeed in Spain and not elsewhere?