Let us recall: on February 7 of this year, Spain temporarily withdrew from the Schengen Agreement for the duration of the regulations to the law “On Foreigners,” commonly called the amnesty. On that day, 160 centers opened in the country where immigrants can get consultations and submit their collected documents. They have the right to do this only within 90 days, and after May 7 the authorities promise to strengthen control over illegal immigrants and their potential employers. The main goal of the amnesty was declared to be bringing 800,000 working illegal immigrants out of the tax shadow. Such bold and long-overdue measures caused concern among officials in some EU countries, primarily Germany and the Netherlands.
According to German Interior Minister Otto Schily, the amnesty conceived by the Spanish government would become a loophole for thousands of illegal immigrants who would later end up in other EU countries, including Germany. But Schily was clearly hasty – the amnesty has almost failed. This happened because the illegal immigrants themselves, their employers, lawyers and public organizations had been preparing for the so-called “labor rooting,” the meaning of which is to grant a residence permit only to those immigrants who have already actually taken root in society and can obtain an employment contract.
At the same time, the entire amnesty mechanism is rather harsh and requires active support from Spanish citizens. For example, an immigrant cannot submit documents for legalization himself; instead, the employer does it for him. The second condition after the contract was the provision of a certificate of no criminal record. And all would be well, but suddenly the third and final required document unexpectedly became the so-called “padrón” – registration with the municipal council at the place of residence before August 8, 2004.
This automatically excluded most working illegal immigrants from the legalization process. For the simple reason that in real life this registration meant nothing and its presence was purely voluntary, especially for an immigrant. Moreover, obtaining a “padrón” had never been difficult, but now, by the incomprehensible logic of officials, this ill-fated registration has turned into proof of residence in Spain, while other evidence, such as a passport with an entry visa, medical insurance, bank accounts, a rental agreement, is not accepted. This caused real shock among “law-abiding” illegal immigrants who have lived in Spain for a long time, have no criminal past, work like crazy and are ready to pay taxes under the threat of losing their Spanish residence permit. The latter, by the way, limits the possibility of moving to another EU country, which went unnoticed by many critics of the amnesty.
It turns out that the Spanish government used an ordinary cheating trick – it changed the rules during the game and introduced an element of lottery. And in this lottery, people who had been living in Spain for several years were unlucky, but those who, by lucky chance, had registration before August 8, 2004, were lucky. As a result, not only people lost, but the state as a whole. The fact is that in Spain, according to various estimates, there are between 1.5 and 2 million illegal immigrants. A significant part of them have been living and working in the country for several years. These people are exactly the workforce the country so needs; they are so rooted that there is no real possibility of kicking them out of Spain. And moreover, it would be economically inexpedient, as all interested parties understand.
It is another matter for immigrants who do not have jobs and, moreover, are involved in crime. But among other things, the point of the amnesty was to separate the “needed” from the “unneeded” – to give the former the right to work and reside, and to intensify the fight against the latter “on all fronts.” Now this meaning has been irretrievably lost – primarily thanks to the “genius” of officials from the ruling socialist party PSOE. They managed to erect so many obstacles and traps in the law that only a small percentage of those who could bring undoubted benefit to society will be able to obtain a residence permit.
And what about crime? It will always find its loopholes, because corruption in Spain has not yet been canceled. For some reason, the story of a Moroccan who is now in a Madrid prison on charges of terrorism comes to mind. This man came to Spain illegally in 2001 and received a residence permit four months (!) after his arrival. Who helped him is unknown, but everything was done on completely legal grounds, within the framework of a special Spanish-Moroccan program. That is what other European countries should fight against, but no – they prefer the method of “keep out and don’t let in.” And who will help ordinary people whom the Spanish authorities made believe in the amnesty and then deceived? Among these deceived and bitterly disappointed are tens of thousands of our former compatriots.