There is an interesting article in The Times about Brits who had been living in Spain returning home because of the economic crisis.
Tellingly, though, they are referred to as "expats" throughout.
It seems that British people abroad aren't migrants, or worse still immigrants.
That's a term we reserve for nasty foreigners.
Photo by Sergio Betancort © Prisacom S.A. From El Pais.com
They came from North Africa and reached Europe: the Canary Island of Lanzarote, Spain
Net immigration to the EU - immigrants less emigrants - was 1.9 million in 2007, according to Eurostat. Since the EU population is just shy of 500 million, the immigration rate was 0.38%.
Spain had the highest level of net immigration: 702,000; Italy was second, with 494,000; Britain third, with 175,000. The Netherlands experienced net emigration, with 1,600 more people leaving than arriving.
Spain's Socialist government is planning to tighten the country's immigration laws. It wants to limit the right of immigrants who are not yet permanent residents to bring their parents to live in Spain and to extend the length of time illegal immigrants are detained from 40 days to 60.
The right-wing opposition, the Partido Popular, wants to impose even stricter limits on family reunification, raise the detention of illegal migrants to 70 days, and force immigrants to sign up to an integration contract obliging them to learn Spanish and respect Spanish customs.
Full story, in Spain, in El Pais.
A section of the border fence around the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa has been torn down by a violent storm.
Perhaps the elements don't look favourably on this unnatural barrier.
It is well known that the money that immigrants send home is the biggest - and best-targeted - source of development aid to poor countries. But immigration can also spur an increase in official government aid - in a bid to improve conditions in poor countries and thus deter their citizens from migrating.
El Pais reports that Spanish aid to Africa has soared in recent years in response to the rising numbers of Africans who risk their lives on flimsy boats to try to reach Europe's southern gateway.
From NCI, Noticias culturales iberoamericanas. Gracias.
1. Nine young children and six adults have died, with four more in a very serious state, in the latest tragic attempt by Africans to reach Europe. Full article in Spanish at El Pais; photos here.
2. The European Parliament has passed a motion demanding that the Berlusconi government stop collecting the fingerprints of gypsies in Italy, who are the targets of an increasingly violent anti-immigrant backlash. El Pais has the full story.
3. A 32-year old Moroccan woman, who is married to a Frenchman and has 3 children who were born in France, has had her normally automatic request for French citizenship denied for wearing a burqa, which France's constutional council deems "incompatible with the fundamental values of the French community, and notably equality between men and women." Full article in French in Le Monde.
The English edition of Spanish newspaper El País has published an interview of me by Simon Hunter to coincide with the launch of Immigrants in Spanish. Read it here
Europa se dice civilizada, un continente de derechos humanos, de libertad y solidaridad. ¿Cómo, entonces, se justifica la nueva directiva de retorno de los inmigrantes sin papeles, aprobada por los ministros del Interior de la UE, que permite detener a los inmigrantes indocumentados hasta 18 meses? Un año y medio en, seamos honestos, ¡la cárcel! ¿Y por qué? Por atreverse a cruzar una frontera en busca de una vida mejor.
Eso no puede ser justo. Los inmigrantes indocumentados no son criminales ni un ejército invasor, son seres humanos menos afortunados que nosotros. Vienen a satisfacer la enorme demanda de mano de obra necesaria para hacer los trabajos que nosotros no queremos hacer; pero no les permitimos hacerlo de manera legal.
Esa directiva, y los controles más estrictos, no sólo son crueles y costosos, sino también inefectivos y contraproducentes. Los muros de Ceuta y Melilla no impiden pasar a la gente, como tampoco lo hizo el muro de Berlín. Cada año miles de personas mueren tratando de llegar hasta Europa, así que encerrar durante 18 meses a algunos de los que lo consiguen no va a impedir la inmigración ilegal. Ya hay millones de indocumentados en Europa, y detenerlos y expulsarlos es imposible. ¿No sería mejor que legalizásemos y regulásemos la inmigración?
El Parlamento Europeo debería rechazar hoy la directiva de retorno. El control cada vez más estricto de las fronteras crea más problemas de los que soluciona. En vez de proteger a la sociedad, multiplican los controles que fracturan y corroen el respeto por la ley y el orden. Si seguimos así, con el tiempo llegaremos a un Estado policiaco. ¿Es ésa la Europa del futuro que queremos?
Pablo Ximénez de Sandoval writes in El País quoting my report for Sweden's Globalisation Council on why immigration can help pay for Europe's welfare states.
I'm delighted that Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them is being published in Spanish by Intermó
The Spanish-speaking world is at the heart of the global debate about migration. Mexico is the biggest source of emigrants in the world, and the money they send home exceeds what the economy receives in foreign direct investment.
Spain was until recently a country of emigration too, but its economic success has transformed it into one of immigration. In fact, it has received more migrants in recent years than anywhere else in Europe - and far more, as a share of its population, than the United States has.
Migrants, in turn, have helped drive the economy's dynamism. Living standards in Spain last year overtook Italy's: as Italians are loath to admit, Spaniards now do it better.
Far from costing Spaniards their jobs, all these newcomers have contributed to a huge rise in the employment rate. And while the economy has recently taken a turn for worse, immigrants are not to blame: other factors, notably the bursting of a property bubble, are responsible.
In future, Spain will need more migrants, not less, not least because its society is ageing and its economy requires people with different perspectives to help drive innovation and growth.
Spain is also, in a sense, the gateway to Europe: a stone's throw - or a boat ride - away from Africa. So its immigration policy matters to the rest of Europe, and its experience to another country with poor neighbours to its south: the United States.
Spain's experience in Ceuta and Melilla shows that high-tech border walls don't keep out migrants. Meanwhile, its mass regularisation of illegal migrants in 2005 - call it an amnesty if you prefer - was a huge success, not only for the migrants themselves, but for society as a whole.
All the more reason why one must hope that Spain's prime minister, José
I'm particularly delighted that Inmigrantes is being published by the development NGO Intermón Oxfam. As they bravely and rightly recognise, migration is at the heart of development.
EU immigration rules that try to prevent Africans from working in Europe are just as unfair as EU trade rules that keep out their farm produce.
Opening up our borders to people from poorer countries would not only do more to help the poor than any other public policy measure; it is a moral imperative.
It is time for other development NGOs, progressive politicians, and all those who believe in human rights, global justice and international solidarity to place freedom of movement for all at the heart of their campaigns.
If you believe the world is unfair and we should do more to help the poor, you should be campaigning to let them work here freely.
Integral, a Spanish magazine, have just published my article, entitled "Let immigrants in"
Spain is leading the way for a humane and common-sense approach to immigration. In 2005, the government allowed illegal immigrants to regularise their status, giving them the right to work legally.
Continue reading "Spain leads the way for Europe on migration" »
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