Thread: Spain closing door on migrant workers

Spain closing door on migrant workers
The Associated Press

Friday, September 5th 2008, 10:37 AM

MADRID, Spain — Spain's government defended a plan to fight soaring unemployment by shutting the door on foreign workers, fending off criticism that the idea is mean-spirited and futile.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said Friday the government had no choice but to respond to the needs of the labor market.

The Socialist government has been under fire from unions, immigrant advocacy groups and opposition parties since the labor minister announced this week the number of work visas granted abroad to people eager to take low-skill jobs in Spain "will get close to zero."

The minister, Celestino Corbacho, said Wednesday it did not make sense to keep recruiting workers in other countries when Spain has 2.5 million people unemployed — 500,000 more than in August 2007, largely as a result of a collapse in the construction industry.

Corbacho is finalizing a separate plan to pay unemployed foreigners to go home — through lump sum payments of their jobless benefits — and stay there for a few years, with the right to come back when things get better.

It appears to be a big policy reversal for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has prided himself on being immigrant-friendly since taking office in 2004.

Zapatero granted amnesty to 600,000 undocumented foreigners in 2005, angering other EU countries which felt this would lure waves of other illegal immigrants who could cross into France and elsewhere in the new border-free Europe.

Spain's population of 45 million is now about 10 percent immigrant — compared to an insignificant proportion a decade ago — largely from Latin America, North Africa and eastern Europe.

Immigrant labor is largely responsible for the millions of houses and other buildings that sprouted like mushrooms during Spain's economic boom of recent years.

But Spain's economy has all but stagnated in less than a year, and gone from being one of the EU's top job-creators to having its highest jobless rate: 10.7 percent, according to Eurostat, the bloc's statistical agency.

Fernandez de la Vega said hiring workers in their countries of origin has been part of a Spanish policy to regulate immigration and fight illegal entries, and always linked to the needs of the job market.

"The government's goal in its immigration policy has not varied," she told a news conference. "The only thing that has changed is the labor market."

The Labor Ministry says that under Corbacho's plan, foreigners who come to do seasonal work like picking strawberries or other produce would not be affected.

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/ ... rs_-2.html

I am sending this to all my congressmen.

It appears to be a big policy reversal for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has prided himself on being immigrant-friendly since taking office in 2004.

McAmnesty needs to see this.

Amazing how the government of Spain has the common sense to do this, while the mighty United States government is sitting on its hands, doing nothing. Are the politicos hoping for cornering the illegal vote?

My goodmess, why arent people protesting in the streets and carrying signs from their Latin American countries? Why arent they demanding amnesty and shouting "no immigrant is illegal", and other nonsensical tripe? Are there any groups like LaRaza headquartered in Spain that will come to their aid?