Immigration in Spain...

Immigration
Not unlike the United States, immigration is a hotly contested subject across Spain. In recent years, Spain has transformed from a country of people leaving to find better lives in other parts of the world to a place where others seek refuge and find opportunities for social and economic betterment. Today, foreigners making a new life can be found in all parts of Spain, with immigrants from various parts South American and African countries being the highest rising and most contested groups.

In my quest to understand the issue of immigration in Spain, I have read an editorial from this week’s local newspaper, researched the issue in online articles, had in-depth conversations with host nation residents holding differing opinions and even gleaned popular culture for the comedic side to this hot button issue. What I have found is that much like the United States of America, Spain is confronting one of the most difficult aspects of our globalized, 21st century world: the inevitability (and in some cases economic viability) of immigrant populations coupled with the difficulty of managing the integration of these groups into society. It seems that everyone has a different take on exactly what the Spanish government should do manage this problem, but all seem to agree that action must be take to ensure that foreigners arriving to Spain want to integrate fully into Spanish society.

In Tuesday’s local paper, an editorial was printed titled, “Immigration and the Correct Political Mind”. I found this article interesting because it discussed the fact that in many areas of Spain, negative behaviors, such as drug use/sale and crime have concretely risen with increased numbers of immigrants while also acknowledging that this is not the case for all immigrants that arrive in Spain seeking a new life. This honest article presented the question of how to find the correct political mindset when it comes to integration—one that does not give way to xenophobia or racism while also supporting the idea that immigrants in Spain need the desire and the initiative to integrate into Spanish culture.

Between the years of 1995-2005, Spain has experienced the highest increase in immigration of all European countries; of its total growth in this decade, 78.6% was due to immigration (Alfieri, 2008). With such a marked increase of foreigners coming to Spain to stay and make a life, it is no wonder that most Spaniards hold strong opinions about this issue. While research has shown that the presence of immigrants has positive economic effects for Spain, many citizens are not convinced that the presence of immigrants is a positive thing for their country (Alfieri, 2008). Specifically, people that I talked with about this issue seemed concerned about the increasing presence of Latin Americans and moros, or people from Islamic backgrounds, usually coming from North African countries. Many people said that immigrants from Latin America (Colombia was frequently mentioned) come to Spain and refuse to step outside established Latin American communities. People mentioned an increase in gang violence saying that groups such as the Latin Kings now have a strong presence in major cities like Madrid. They also brought up the fact that Spaniards are having to compete for jobs and government resources with foreigners, and in a country with socialized healthcare, education, etc. this poses a huge problem in the eyes of many. In addition, to these immigrant groups, friends of mine from the Canary Islands discussed the increase of West African immigration, which is a whole different story in the opinion of many. Immigrants from countries such as Senegal pack boats full of people fleeing famine and destitution to make the arduous journey to these Spanish islands. Many die in route, and bodies are found in the ocean and on shores of Africans that do not survive the journey. Those that do survive arrive dehydrated, exhausted and often need medical attention. An article from last May, discussed the arrival of 259 African immigrants by boat in one day in the Canary Islands; two months prior to this there were two other waves of immigrants back to back, 372 one day, 314 the next (Fraerman, 2008). For apparent reasons, Canary Island officials are calling on the state to do something to help control this immigration crisis they are facing.

The most concrete solution that I encountered while learning about immigration in Spain came from the editorial I read in the newspaper. Author Sagardoy Bengoechea stated that Spain needed to take its lead from other EU countries such as Germany and France that have been dealing with immigration problems for a longer time than Spain. He discussed the fact that in Germany, immigrants have to take an integration course, which includes German language, culture, history and law. If they do not participate in this course, they are fined 1,000 Euros. Similar systems of control and integration have been established in France in the last two years (Sagardoy Bengoechea, 2008). In regards to the problem of African immigrants arriving by boat, I read that the more resources are being given to the Canary Islands to patrol their oceans, but in the end it is impossible to build a fence in the sea (Fraerman, 2008). Much like this issue in the United States, the reasons for immigration (inequalities in home nations and globalization) must be stabilized for real change to take place.