COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES The release process followed a similar pattern across the country. Migrants who had a home to go to were the first ones to be set free. If they lacked any relatives in the country, they were sent to social organizations running reception projects, such as the humanitarian assistance program for undocumented migrants at Fundación Cepaim, a nationwide organization focusing on social inclusion and intercultural coexistence, which received 46 migrant detainees in Madrid, Valencia and Murcia. THERE IS AMPLE ROOM FOR ALTERNATIVES Civil society organizations and activists have welcomed this approach, although they feel it is a measure that has been compelled by the situation and the lack of legal basis for immigration detention while deportations cannot be enforced, instead of being part of a wider strategy by the government to gradually reduce detention. In practice, detention occupies the whole spectrum of applicable interim measures, and there is room for alternatives to fill the big gap left during the pandemic. IT IS TIME FOR ALTERNATIVES There are no migrant detainees now in Spain for reasons relating to their immigration status. Detention is not a measure that can be taken to ensure deportations in the near future due to the pandemic and its uncertain nature. It is now the time for the Spanish competent authorities to make use of this moment as an opportunity to implement community-based alternative-to-detention pilot programs. Spain led the way releasing migrants from detention, and it should at least give way to alternatives in order to comply with human rights standards in this field. The pandemic has shown that alternatives to detention are the only way out and a shift away from detention is needed now more than ever. NACHO HERNÁNDEZ International Affairs Department, Fundación Cepaim As the former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights put it after his visit to Spain in early 2020, civil society in this country is “one of the most vibrant” he had ever encountered.9 Indeed, social organizations have the capabilities, the experience and the willingness to pilot alternative-to-detention programs first, and to ultimately manage established community-based alternatives in the future. For instance, the aforementioned nationwide humanitarian assistance program managed by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations and implemented by organizations such as Fundación Cepaim has been running for over a decade. It provides accommodation and covers the basic needs (food, hygiene and local travel) of its beneficiaries, who are assisted during three months by a team of social workers and, sometimes, even by lawyers and psychologists. The programme provides migrants released from CIE with skills that would support their social inclusion in Spain. Social organizations have the staff and tools needed to ensure successful pilot programs. 9 OHCHR (2020). Statement by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, on his visit to Spain, 27 January – 7 February 2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/2R75tWG. 50 International Detention Coalition and Western Sydney University