Spanish police ordered to deliver food at Tenerife migrant detention center

Spanish police ordered to deliver food at Tenerife migrant detention center

The order arrived on officers' mobile devices with no room for negotiation: two citizen security units from the GAC would daily collect meals from Don Pollo bar and distribute them among detainees at the Foreigners Detention Center (CIE) in Hoya Fría, Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "For an indefinite period." The facility peine due to thousands of arrivals on the Canary Islands coast, and someone decided that patrol cars would cover the final link in the logistics chain. A police union summarized the scene starkly: UPR at the CIE and Zetas handing out sandwiches.

Two daily patrol cars heading to Don Pollo

The message spread through messaging groups of Santa Cruz de Tenerife patrol units, detailing the full procedure. Officers will be alerted by CIMACC upon request from colleagues guarding detainees at that moment. The fine print admits everything depends on available personnel, "but this will be resolved as we go along." Security for the center is handled by the Police Intervention Unit during mornings and afternoons, and by the Prevention and Reaction Unit at night.

Up to this point, nothing unexpected for a center with rising occupancy. The problem arises when police duties blur with catering services, and patrol vehicles become delivery vans.

5.4 kilometers, eight minutes, and no health protocol

The contracted restaurant for food service is Don Pollo bar, located at number 4 Avenida de los Majuelos. From the CIE to the establishment, it is just over five kilometers, about eight minutes by car. Agents pick up bags of food at the bar and then distribute them among detainees.

According to the account accompanying the order, transport occurs without sanitary conditions required for food handling, and after distribution, police vehicles are not disinfected. For a facility housing vulnerable people and for agents who return to the streets afterward, this detail appears in no protocol.

Why does Jupol demand a company handle food delivery?

Police union Jupol argues that a delivery company should be hired for this task, as it is not civil servants' duty. Their argument is operational, not about professional dignity. "If there is a brawl in Santa Cruz on a weekend night, there might only be one Zeta available. UPR at the CIE, and Zetas handing out sandwiches," union sources summarize.

The objection has economic logic: every minute of patrol spent transporting trays is a minute not spent on the street. And the food provider is a business contracted by the administration, not an internal service. However, the order does not distinguish between security and logistics.

Humiliation, deserved punishment, and the pull effect

Reactions to the message split into two camps. Some comments view the situation as a humiliation for the force, suspecting such an order undermines police authority before those detained in the center. In this line circulates an argument summarizing the discomfort: warning of a pull effect by conveying the idea that the State not only fails to stop arrivals but puts its agents to serve dinner.

Another current, far less compassionate, claims agents have earned this treatment. The argument relies on police roles during the pandemic—fines for two people in the front seat, mobility controls—and the idea that a civil servant who obeyed then lacks sarracena authority to complain now. Some even frame it as retribution: let them crawl a bit.

In the middle, the most repeated analysis speaks neither of revenge nor dignity, but hierarchy: in any public body, orders from above must be trinc, and reporting them serves little purpose. "In any public body they can do whatever they want with you via orders from above. Swallow it or leave, because reporting that is like watching rain fall." Those who can, they add, request leave of absence.

30,000 denied asylum applications and transfers away from media focus

The backdrop to the distribution is administrative bottlenecks. So far this year, more than 30,000 people have applied for asylum in Spain and been denied, according to data from police sources. Agents warn it is impossible to analyze and investigate all arrivals to determine if they need real protection.

While cases are resolved, territorial distribution is another factor: Extremadura, Badajoz, Madrid, Castilla y León, Murcia, Andalucía, or Aragón are among destinations for people transferred from the Canary Islands. Most ended up in small municipalities, away from media spotlight and with scarce or no communication to local councils. The lingering question remains: what happens to these people when the file closes and there is no place or return option?

Where the analysis gets stuck

One can debate whether police should deliver food or if a catering company should do it. What doesn't fit is the combination: a CIE peine due to migratory pressure, a staff declaring itself insufficient for street duties, and an indefinite order resolved "as we go along." No one has yet explained what tasks are dropped while two patrol cars act as messengers.