Spain: Legislation on illegal immigration, in particular, provisions on the removal of illegal migrants (2001-May 2002)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 14 November 2002 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | ESP40429.E |
| Reference | 7 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Spain: Legislation on illegal immigration, in particular, provisions on the removal of illegal migrants (2001-May 2002), 14 November 2002, ESP40429.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4d911c.html [accessed 25 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
In January 2001, new immigration legislation was enacted in Spain aimed at discouraging illegal immigration (BBC News 23 Jan. 2001; Manchester Guardian Weekly 7 Feb. 2001; Migration News March 2001). An article in Migration News highlights the salient features of the new law:
A new immigration law took effect January 23, 2001, stepping up penalties on employers who hire illegal workers, and making it easier for Spanish authorities to deport the estimated 500,000 unauthorized foreigners. In order to simplify deportation, Spain has made re-admission agreements with the major sending countries, including Morocco and Ecuador, and is negotiating such arrangements with Colombia and Poland.
About a million of Spain's 40 million residents are legal immigrants.
Under the new law and the readmission agreements, illegal foreigners from these countries apprehended in Spain are to be returned to their country of origin. In the case of the 150,000 unauthorized Ecuadorians, Spain has offered to pay the airfare home of the 4,426 whose applications for legalization were rejected in 2000. Few have signed up. When there are vacant jobs in Spain, a Spanish-Ecuadorian Committee will select Ecuadorians, who will receive a 30-day work contract with which the Spanish consulate will issue the visa. Once in Spain, legal Ecuadorian workers will enjoy the same benefits as other workers, but when their work permits expire, they will have to go to the Ecuadorian consulate if they want another job in Spain.
The 2001 revision of the 1999 immigration law was advocated by interior minister Jaime Mayor Oreja, who says that Spain can not assimilate the immigrants arriving from Latin America, North and sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. Some 60,000 of the 224,959 foreigners who applied for legalization in 2000 ... had their applications rejected. In answer to those who want another legalization, he says: "To give the same rights to both legal and illegal immigrants, that is something unthinkable."
The 2001 revision reduces immigrant rights – unauthorized workers are no longer permitted to join unions or strike. These new restrictions have led to protests by migrants and their supporters. Farmers have joined the critics, arguing that crops are left unharvested because they fear sanctions if they hire unauthorized workers and [because] Spaniards reject farm-worker jobs.
The wife of the regional premier of Catalonia denounced Muslim immigrants, saying they wanted to impose their culture on the region. About two percent of Catalonian residents are foreigners; most work in Barcelona or on the flower farms in the north.
In 2000, about 150,000 North Africans were arrested entering Spain from Morocco, four times as many as in 1999 (March 2001).
According to Spain's interior minister, Mariano Rajoy, "the government is seriously studying the possibility of reforming the law on foreigners" (AFP 5 June 2002). Potential revisions to Spain's immigration legislation include: tougher penalties for people smugglers; fingerprinting requirements to obtain official documents (ibid.); Spanish language requirements; termination of the automatic legal status given to a person who has resided in Spain for at least five years; tougher penalties for people who hire illegal immigrants; and limitations on legal immigrants' rights to bring family members to Spain (ibid. 6 June 2002).
Human rights groups state that Spanish immigration laws are stripping immigrants of their rights (EFE News Service 28 Jun. 2002; HRW 5 July 2002), and that they are being applied unfairly (ibid.). A spokesperson for the human rights group SOS Racismo stated that:
"The only thing (this law) it has done is consolidate illegal immigrants as a group without rights, destined to serve as cheap and docile labor in the underground economy" (EFE News Service 28 Jun. 2002).
According to Human Rights Watch:
...[T]he Spanish government has recently focused its efforts on immigration control and speeding the process for migrants' expulsion and deportation, rather than on the serious human rights abuses Human Rights Watch and other groups have identified. Human Rights Watch calls on the Spanish government to:
– take prompt measures to address the deficiencies of coordination among central, regional, and local authorities in order to ensure the fair and consistent interpretation of the rights of migrants under Law 8/2000 and its regulation;
– ensure that the foreigner's law is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner, including the creation of clear guidelines for identification procedures;
– provide all arriving migrants and asylum seekers with information pamphlets on the Spanish immigration procedure and their rights under Spanish, regional, and international law in a language they understand;
– provide training on immigration and asylum law for lawyers representing migrants and ensure that migrants have a meaningful opportunity to seek legal assistance and to secure adequate legal representation for all processes governing their rights and status;
– and ensure that every migrant subject to a return procedure in Spain receives a full and fair individual determination with respect to repatriation, deportation, or expulsion (5 July 2002).
A 6 June 2002 AFP article stated that "[s]o far this year, the Spanish authorities have ordered the expulsion of nearly 13,000 immigrants, compared with nearly 12,700 for the whole of 2001...". Violence erupted in May 2002 between police and African asylum seekers resisting deportation (ibid. 9 May 2002). Two police officers accompanied each one of the 50 asylum seekers on a flight chartered by the Spanish government to Johannesburg (ibid.).
Procedural information regarding the removal of immigrants and asylum seekers from Spain was not found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
In addition to national immigration laws, EU countries are currently coordinating efforts to combat illegal immigration flows (AP 13 June 2002; EIW 18 June 2002; EIW 19 Oct. 2002). In June 2002, EU leaders gathered in Seville, Spain, to discuss, among other items, the following immigration issues: illegal immigration, the definition of the right of asylum, external border controls, and cooperation agreements with migrants' countries of origin and transit (AIW 6 Jun. 2002). Please refer to the 19 October 2002 EIW article (available on the Website of the UNHCR) entitled "European Report: Commission Sets Out EU Plan for Expelling Illegal Immigrants" for more information.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Agence France Press (AFP). 6 June 2002. "Spain Weighs Move to Tighten Net Around Illegal Migrants." _____. 5 June 2002. "Spain Weighing Tougher Immigration Laws." _____. 9 May 2002. "Angolan and Congolese Immigrants Expelled From Spain." Asia Intelligence Wire (AIW). 6 June 2002. "Italy, Spain to Press for EU Immigration Strategy at Seville Summit." Associated Press. 13 June 2002. "EU Nations Draw Up Plans for Crackdown on Illegal Immigration." BBC News. 23 January 2001. "Spain Tightens Immigration Law." EFE News Service. 28 June 2002. "Spain-Immigration: Spanish Government Claims Immigration Policy Success." (NEXIS)
Europe Intelligence Wire (EIW). 19 October 2002. "European Report: Commission Sets Out EU Plan for Expelling Illegal Immigrants." _____. 18 June 2002. "Spanish PM Aznar Tones Down EU Dispute on Illegal Immigration." Human Rights Watch (HRW). 5 July 2002. "Spain: Immigration Laws Applied Unfairly." Manchester Guardian Weekly. 7 February 2001. "New Spanish Law Angers Immigrants." (NEXIS)
Migration News. March 2001. Vol. 8, No. 3. "Spain, Portugal, Italy." Additional Sources Consulted
IRB Databases
LEXIS/NEXIS
