Police union denounces ‘abandoned and overwhelmed’ Torrevieja immigration office

The Jupol police union has formally requested an urgent meeting with the Deputy Government Delegate in Alicante, Manuel Pineda, to address a critical situation affecting the Torrevieja Documentation Unit. The union describes the facilities as absolutely overwhelmed and insufficient to meet the population and migratory needs of the city.

Jupol, which claims to be the largest union in the National Police, denounces that the Torrevieja Documentation Unit continues to operate with resources and structures from more than a decade ago. The current headquarters opened in 2014 after operating for years in a smaller site in Plaza del Molino. This stagnation remains despite the fact that the city has experienced exponential population growth and endures some of the greatest demographic and tourist pressures in the entire province of Alicante.

Currently, Torrevieja has over 110,000 registered residents, with a real population of around 220,000 permanent residents, rising to more than 500,000 people during the summer months. The city is home to citizens of over 120 different nationalities. However, the unit only has a roster of six officers, according to the police union, a number it labels absolutely insufficient to handle the enormous daily workload.

Jupol denounces that the current facilities suffer from serious structural and safety deficiencies. With barely 240 square metres of surface area, there is a total absence of a waiting room and an extremely small access hall. This causes citizens to usually wait in the middle of the public road, making it necessary to close streets with fencing to organise queues, whilst also generating a lack of privacy in administrative procedures.

The union considers it unacceptable that thousands of citizens have to wait for hours in the street to carry out basic procedures, projecting an image of institutional neglect and absolute precariousness. That section of Arquitecto Larramendi Street must be closed to traffic daily while service is being provided. Furthermore, they warn that structural limitations make it impossible to expand the current workforce, despite it being an urgent and obvious need.

The same source strongly criticises the withdrawal of powers in matters of immigration suffered by Torrevieja after the latest modification of the job catalogue of the General Directorate of the Police. The union considers it incomprehensible that a city where more than 52% of the registered population is foreign has lost precisely these powers, forcing thousands of citizens to travel to other locations such as Elche or Orihuela to carry out essential procedures. This decision is causing the saturation of other police stations and increasing the administrative and operational collapse.

The union also warns of serious security deficiencies at the facility, which was handed over by the Torrevieja City Council. It lacks basic access control systems such as metal detectors or security scanners, despite the Level 4 Anti-Terrorist Alert remaining active.

The daily accumulation of people outside, coupled with a shortage of police personnel, creates a clear situation of vulnerability for both officers and citizens. The union believes that the current conditions violate basic principles of occupational risk prevention and expose police officers and the public to potentially dangerous situations every day.

Given this situation, it demands an urgent evaluation of the operational, structural and occupational risk prevention situation of the Torrevieja Documentation Unit. It calls for the urgent creation of new facilities suited to the population and migratory reality of the city, alongside the immediate expansion of the job catalogue. The union also requests the recovery of powers in matters of immigration and an urgent meeting with the sub-delegate of the Government of Alicante to seek immediate solutions.

Jupol warns that the current situation cannot continue for even one more day and reminds everyone that an essential public service cannot continue to be provided in third-world conditions while population and migratory pressure continues to grow year after year.