He Spanish Parliament must rule this Tuesday on a popular initiative signed by more than 600,000 people, and with the support of some 900 associations, which demands the exceptional regularization of all irregular immigrants living in the country.
This initiative, launched almost three years ago by a group defending irregular migrants, will be addressed in plenary by the deputies, who They must decide whether to authorize the formal examination of a bill on the subject.
In Spain, between 390,000 and 470,000 people reside irregularly. In the photo, the Barajas airport.
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The left-wing platform Sumar, a partner of President Pedro Sánchez's socialist party in the government coalition, has already expressed that it supports mass regularization.
Despite being in favor of Parliament examining this popular initiative, the socialists remain cautious and ensure that European law does not allow widespread regularization of undocumented immigrants.
What does the initiative ask for?
The citizen initiative, signed as of this Tuesday by 612,000 people, demands that seek “mechanisms that guarantee” that irregular migrants “can escape the situation of invisibility and 'not rights'”.
“According to the most recent estimates, in In Spain, between 390,000 and 470,000 people reside irregularly, of which a third would be minors,” recalls this text sent to the deputies, supported by 906 associations, as well as the Church.
“The system of access to residence contemplated in the Immigration Law LO 4/2000 is insufficient and limited and does not adjust to the current reality of migrants who live and work in the Spanish State,” the text mentions.
“The criteria for access to residence are highly restrictive,” they regret, and “the administrative procedure” to obtain the permit or its renewal “is slow, bureaucratic and has a high margin of discretion,” they add.
Currently, the contracts in which this condition is already in force cover 19 locations in seven Spanish airports.
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According to the promoters of this popular initiative, This situation goes against the fundamental rights of immigrants and also generates “the loss of a large economic and fiscal contribution for society as a whole”, since it does not allow them to pay taxes.
“For many people in an irregular situation it is impossible to get papers. Among them there are families with children who cannot access health or education, they find themselves in a wheel of a perverse system that keeps them in extreme precariousness,” said Lamine Sarr, spokesperson for the movement that seeks the regularization of migrants.
There are families with children who cannot access health or education, they find themselves in a wheel of a perverse system.
The authors of the text recall that massive regularization policies were implemented on several occasions during the last decades in the European Union, particularly in Spain.
In 2000, for example, conservative president José María Aznar regularized almost 137,000 illegal immigrants, before tightening the conditions for granting residence permits.
In 2005, the government of socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, for its part, regularized some 580,000 irregular immigrants during an “exceptional” process that earned it criticism in Europe.
According to the authors of the initiative, the system of access to residence in Spain is insufficient and limited.
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Thus, the proposed text gives the government a period of six months to approve a decree that stipulates the procedure to regularize the administrative situation “of foreigners who are in national territory before November 1, 2021″.
“The existence of nearly half a million people outside the radar of institutions and the planning of public services represents a public governance deficit that is urgently needed to be corrected,” the text states.
According to the Spanish media Eldiario.es, if Congress approves the initiative to continue, The norm will go to a commission where the parliamentary groups will make amendments to the project. The law would then be put to a vote in the plenary session of Congress. On the contrary, if it is rejected this Tuesday, the initiative cannot be reviewed and will be archived.
A country like ours needs and will need many thousands of immigrants, even to be able to sustain its own fabric.
“It is neither about an open bar nor about closing borders. It is about knowing that a country like ours needs and will need many thousands of immigrants, even to be able to sustain its own fabric, but it must be done in a reasonable and intelligent way,” said Patxi López, spokesperson for the socialist party, who stated who will support the vote this Tuesday.
The rule could directly impact hundreds of Colombians. More than 800,000 Colombians live in Spain, according to data from the National Department of Statistics (DANE), a figure that the Government and civil organizations, as they recognize, is lower than the real one, since many others are not registered in their consular office for fear of being discovered to be in an irregular situation. .
Figures from 2020, in fact, ensure that At least 10,000 Colombians live irregularly in Spain.
According to data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, in addition, 42,600 Colombians arrived in Spain in the last quarter of 2023, thus being the foreign community that grew the most in that period, ahead of the Venezuelan (27,300), the Moroccan (25,800) and the Peruvian (17,200).
More than 800,000 Colombians live in Spain, according to data from the National Department of Statistics (DANE).
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Irregular entry of migrants has skyrocketed in Spain
According to the latest immigration report from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, more than 16,150 immigrants entered Spain irregularly by sea or land in the first quarter of 2024mostly through the Atlantic islands of the Canary Islands, which represents an increase of 276.9% compared to the same period in 2023.
Arrivals to the Canary Islands in precarious boats from Africa were 13,115 people, with an increase of 502.2% compared to the same period last year, according to the report.
The balance, however, shows a considerable slowdown in arrivals to that archipelago in March compared to January and February. Between the first two months of the year there were 11,932 migrants, and they were reduced to 1,183 in March.
More than 16,150 immigrants entered Spain irregularly by sea or land in the first quarter of the year.
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Arrivals to the Spanish peninsula and the Balearic Islands (Mediterranean Sea) also grew, but to a much lesser extent: 2,235 people counted until March, 21.4% more.
Irregular land and swimming access to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, bordering Morocco in North Africa, increased by 265.9%.
The increase was recorded, above all, in Ceuta, where 798 immigrants arrived in the first quarter of the year, compared to 199 in 2023 (301% more).
Arrivals to Melilla by land remained at low numbers: seven people, 14 less than a year ago.
*With AFP and EFE
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