Automatic expulsion for immigrants

The Balearic High Court has announced that it will adopt the same stance as the Supreme Court in Madrid towards the sentencing of immigrants.
Immigrants in the Balearic Islands who have committed a crime that carries a penalty of at least one year will now be automatically expulsed from Spain.
Until now, magistrates were guided by a European directive where expulsion was established on a case by case basis and which took several different factors into account. This included whether a person was a resident in Spain, if they had family, their employment status and the links that they maintained with their country of origin.
However, the guidelines have now been changed after several sentences were handed down by the Supreme Court this year where expulsion was automatic, in view that a serious crime reflects a failure to adapt to society.
The first case considered by the Balearic court concerned a Moroccan man who was sentenced to three years in jail for drug trafficking. He had been living legally in Spain for ten years but did not have family and had spent six years without employment. The national government delegation has now withdrawn his residency permit and he has been expelled from Spain where he cannot return for four years. The same criteria will now be applied to all cases.