Spain Shows Another Immigration Policy Is Possible
Spanish political leaders know that the economy relies on undocumented migrants and their labor. Rather than step up expulsions, Pedro Sánchez’s government has announced plans to regularize over 500,000 migrants’ status.
Spain’s broad-left government has announced regularization plans that could benefit over 500,000 migrants without legal status. While governments around Europe harshen anti-migrant measures, the Spanish example shows it’s not inevitable. (Ricardo Rubio / Europa Press via Getty Images)
The Spanish government has announced a regularization process for immigrants in an irregular administrative situation. It’s a move that could benefit more than five hundred thousand people currently living in Spain without legal status. With this measure, Pedro Sánchez’s broad-left government is swimming against the tide of Europe and the United States. The decision by the Spanish government, formed by his Partido Socialista (PSOE) and the left-wing Sumar, supposes a great success for the citizen-led campaign “¡Regularización Ya!” (“Regularization Now!”), driven by migrant and anti-racist groups, which has collected over seven hundred thousand signatures from Spanish nationals in favor of regularizing all undocumented migrants.
Decree
The regularization, which has been approved by decree in order to get around the government’s weak parliamentary position, will apply to foreign nationals who meet three conditions: They must have entered Spain before last December 31, prove a minimum stay of at least five months, and have no criminal record.
The government and the promoters of the “Regularization Now!” campaign estimate the decree will benefit over half a million people, although there could be over eight hundred thousand migrants in an irregular situation in Spain. In previous years, the government loosened the criteria to obtain working and residence permits, but it has not been enough to reduce this figure. Migration has quickly grown in recent years, particularly from Latin America, and almost 18 percent of Spanish residents today are foreign-born — the third-highest figure in Europe.
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