The Congress of Deputies takes the first step to regularize the situation of half a million immigrants who have been working in Spain for years. The Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP), which has received the support of more than 600,000 signatures and whose admission to treatment was approved in April with the consensus of all parties, except Vox, had already been imposed ten extensions of the deadline for submitting amendments, which was extended again and again every week. Until this Tuesday.
Although at the time the text enjoyed a large majority, the key point to move forward depended once again on the votes of Junts, involved in its own internal debate on immigration, or of the PP, very critical of the government’s management of this issue. However, as parliamentary sources confirm, those of Alberto Nuñez Feijoo They opened their hand.
To accept the extraordinary regularization, the first since 2005, the PP demands to examine “case by case” immigrants’ files and analyze “where they come from, their professional situation and their criminal record” both in Spain and in the country of origin. According to sources in the Chamber, the popular parties must present their amendments to the ILP articles before 6 p.m. this Wednesday.
Initially, the proposal that reached Congress in April provided for the opening of a regularization procedure for migrants in an “irregular administrative situation” who were in Spanish territory before November 1, 2021. However, the latest amendment drafted by the PSOE and Sumar extends this deadline until December 31, 2023even if it opens the door to the precision of other details.
“Am I in favour of their regularisation with controls on each of these people? That seems good to me, because we are short of people. Without controls and without everyone being regularised without knowing who each one is? That would be a mistake”, said the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, this Sunday, in an interview with EL ESPAÑOL. “If we want to regularise them, let’s see who they are” he said.
In a first survey, sources from both government parties assure that they do not view “with a bad eye” an agreement with the PP on a regularization of this type, in the absence of seeing the final text. The alternative, in any case, would be to do it with the seven deputies of the Togetherwhich is in an internal debate on its immigration policy strongly influenced by the xenophobic positions of the Aliança Catalana.
Once the ILP is unblocked in Congress, the next step is the convening of the Committee on Labor, Social Economy, Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, responsible for preparing the presentation and opinion, chaired by the representative of Sumar. Aïna VidalThis is where the amendments will be negotiated and it will be decided, with the extraordinary vote of the left coalition, whether or not it wishes to speed up the deadlines.
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The new version of the initiative specifies that the Government, by Royal Decree, will establish within six months a “procedure that will allow foreigners in an irregular administrative situation in Spain, before December 31, 2023, to access a residence and/or work permit for professional, socio-educational, family and/or humanitarian reasons.”
If the path of regularization is chosen, Congress is the only possible means. nine times that Spain has approved a similar measure – five times with the PP and four with the PSOE – have all passed through the Chamber.
This time it won’t be so simple, mainly because of the criticisms that have arisen from Pedro Sánchez’s management of immigration. Yeah Regularization is not chosen, parliamentary sources warn that there is another way directwhich is the one of the nature letter.
If this path is chosen, the government will have the power to grant nationality, as demanded by groups such as Podemos, without going through regularization. However, it should be noted thatThis has never been done on a large scale and, at the moment, Moncloa is not proposing it either. Much less if the PP opens its hand.
