Government Order of Expulsion from Barcelona

For nearly two decades, between 1939 and 1957, the Francoist regime restricted, to a greater or lesser extent, the freedom of movement of its citizens by imposing bureaucratic-administrative restrictions related to employment, housing, and food supply for migrants. It also introduced a mobility pass with a strong political imprint, as obtaining it required a favorable political-social report from the governmental authorities of the province of residence and, ultimately, from the General Directorate of Security itself. This internal passport remained in force for travel between different Spanish provinces until 1948 and until 1942 for movement between municipalities within the same provincial jurisdiction. It effectively imposed more than 8,000 internal borders during the early years of the post-war period.

During these years, the New State also implemented regulations to hinder the settlement of migrants in the cities they had chosen to build a new life. It imposed rules that made it difficult to obtain legal employment in a municipality other than one's place of residence, prohibiting workers from applying for a professional card in locations where they were not registered. It also prevented displaced persons from receiving ration cards. Finally, it enacted a rent exemption policy favoring pre-war residents, which barred post-war migrants from participating in the housing market on equal terms, pushing hundreds of thousands of people in the country's major cities into shantytowns.

These highly restrictive migration measures failed to prevent the most significant recorded process of internal migration to that time. It did lead, however, to the formation of large pockets of marginalization and vulnerability among migrants, especially those without family or community support in major cities. It was these individuals who became the primary targets of the regime’s harshest migration policies, resulting in thousands of deportations from cities such as Valencia, Seville, Madrid, and Barcelona. The expulsion order shown here is one example. “Juan Martínez Gascón, native of Albatera (Alicante), 54 years old, is sent back to his home village for having come to Barcelona, without work, nor resources, even lacking anywhere to live. He is warned that if he returns, he will be sent to jail

In Barcelona, the Civil Government issued several orders implementing this policy, which remained in effect until the first quarter of 1957. In collaboration with the city council of the Catalan capital, it allocated considerable resources to this effort. Tens of thousands of people—approximately 70,000 individuals between 1945 and 1957- were subjected to this repressive system during the period known as the early Francoism

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