This Tuesday, in the Permanent Deputation, the Congress rejected the appearance of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to explain, in an extraordinary session, his immigration policy, after a triple equality. Thus, the PP’s request received the support of Vox and Junts and the abstention of Podemos.
Although PP, Vox and Junts have an absolute majority in the plenary session of the Chamber, the same is not true in the Permanent Deputation, which is the body that made the decision this Tuesday. The “popular” petition was voted on three times and all obtained a score of 34 votes in favor, 34 against and one abstention, which is why it was rejected.
In the debate preceding the vote, the PSOE on Tuesday asked the PP to reconsider its vote on the reform of the immigration law, while the PP accused the government of “exploiting ad nauseam” the “false controversy” of unaccompanied migrant minors, who have declared that they represent 10% of irregular arrivals in Spain.
“Like the false controversy about unaccompanied foreign minors, which you (the government) try to exploit to the point of nausea, but you assume that, listen to me carefully, 10% of irregular arrivals in our country. Of course, with this they intend to divert attention from the remaining 90%, who are adults,” said PP MP Sofía Acedo in the Permanent Deputation of Congress to debate the request for the appearance of the President of the Government in an extraordinary plenary session, to address the “immigration emergencies.”
Likewise, the “popular” criticized the fact that the government “favors” the “overcrowding” of immigrants in the foreign centers in the asylum rooms of Barajas and stressed that it “is not capable of guaranteeing minimum attention and permanently violates human rights as denounced by the social entities that work to take care of them.”
“The lack of an immigration policy by the Sánchez government has triggered an unprecedented lack of control of migratory flows in Spain, honourable socialist deputies. Flows that, far from ceasing, will continue to increase during this year, especially in these months and those to come, if the necessary measures are not adopted by the Spanish government,” he stressed.
In turn, the socialist María Guijarro asked the PP to reconsider the vote against the reform of the immigration law aimed at distributing unaccompanied minor migrants, which she described as “irresponsible”. She also urged the “popular” to side with “the solution and the agreement”.
“Human mobility is not going to stop, because the causes of migration are going to multiply. That is why I invite you to unite realism, solutions, responsibility and democratic commitment. Because it is also an ethical, legal and political issue,” Guijarro stressed.
Likewise, the socialist said that “we must roll up our sleeves and work responsibly.” He also stressed in his speech that Spain “is a reference in the world for its humanized immigration policy” and that “solidarity is not boasted, it is not blamed, it is practiced.”
For his part, Vox MP Pepa Millán said he would support the request for appearance and accused the government of having “abandoned” the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, “turning them into a landing and distribution platform for illegal immigrants, making illegality the norm and money laundering by voting, for example, in favor of the express regularization of the situation of half a million people who arrived without having completed the legal procedures, rewarding illegality.
Millán also stressed that the government “believes that we must roll out a red carpet to all those who enter and violate our borders and our laws,” but what he does not know is what the PP really thinks.
For Sumar, Enrique Santiago said that the person who must appear to explain his “blockade” to resolve the situation in the Canary Islands and Ceuta is the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “On the side of the governments of the autonomous communities, the Popular Party has been blocking the transfers of these minors to the peninsula for years,” he assured.
WE CAN SAY THAT SPAIN HAS A “RACISM” “PROBLEM”
Ione Belarra, from Podemos, indicated that, according to his party, the PP’s concern is “false” and “pure hypocrisy.” In this sense, he denounced the fact that Spain does not have an immigration “problem,” but rather a “very serious” problem of “racism.”
In addition, Belarra accused the PP of being the “instigator” of “racist violence and racist hatred.” In addition, he indicated that Spain “is full of racists” and needs “workers with rights.” “Regularization now. And if regularization is not approved by this Congress, nationalization of everything,” he said about the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) aimed at regularizing more than half a million migrants.
For his part, PNV MP Mikel Legarda said that his party “does not see the need to celebrate any urgent appeal in the few remaining working days of August”, which is why he will not support the various requests. In any case, he stressed that “it is surprising” that it is the PP that requests Sánchez’s appearance on immigration “after his sit-in in solidarity with the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla”, after voting against the reform of the immigration law. In this sense, like Belarra, he asked that the half a million ILP migrants be regularized “immediately”.
Likewise, Óscar Matute, from EH Bildu, stressed that they would not participate in “any far-right food campaign”, and that they would therefore vote “no” to each of the requests to appear.
The deputy of the Junts, Marta Madrenas, explained that it is necessary to talk about migration, because the citizens “demand it”, so they will support the “popular” demand. “We must develop policies and we must do them well, avoiding racism,” he stressed.
He also referred to his vote against the immigration law reform, which he added was described as “not in favour”. “It’s quite unfair,” he said, adding that Catalonia receives 23% of all Spanish immigration.
