Judge issues scathing report on migrant holding center

A ruling handed down by one of three judges that oversee the biggest migrant holding facility in Madrid has criticized "the obvious overcrowding" and lack of adequate emergency infirmaries at the Internment Center for Foreigners (CIE) in Aluche. The ruling was handed down after the death last week at the center of a Congolese woman from meningitis, says Cristina Manzanedo, a coordinator of the NGO United Peoples.

The ruling orders the staff to isolate all the other foreigners waiting for their expulsion orders who have had contact with the woman. Those who show signs of any infectious diseases should be taken immediately to area hospitals, the judge wrote.

The center, which has a capacity for 280 people, is always full, with more than 60 percent kept their for more than 40 days before they can see a judge, says the United Peoples organization.