Spain proposes tougher laws for immigrants
By DANIEL WOOLLS – 11 hours ago

MADRID, Spain (AP) — Grappling with rising unemployment and a moribund economy, the Spanish government proposed new immigration rules Friday to limit the influx of immigrants.

The measures, which need Parliamentary approval, would let police hold undocumented aliens longer pending expulsion and make it harder for foreign-born residents to bring relatives over. They are yet another reflection of the dramatic turnabout in Spain's economy.

Just a few years ago, Spain was Europe's top job-creator. In 2005, it even granted amnesty to 600,000 illegal aliens, many of whom worked under-the-table as laborers in a booming real estate sector.

But with the property bubble collapse in the last year, the Spanish economy is now on the verge of recession and unemployment has soared to an EU-high of 11.3 percent. Among immigrants, the jobless rate surpasses 17 percent.

Labor Minister Celestino Corbacho said Friday the government must limit immigrants so as not to swell the ranks of the unemployed.

"Immigration has to be linked to the labor market," Corbacho said.

The proposed reforms will now go before several government advisory bodies, then eventually to Parliament for debate and a vote next year.

About 4.3 million foreigners live in Spain legally, about 10 percent of its population. The government has no figure for how many others are here without residency papers.

One of the new measures would raise from 40 to 60 the number of days that police can hold people caught entering Spain illegally, so officials have more time to identify and expel them.

Many destitute Africans who arrive on small crowded boats come without passports so they cannot be identified. That way, Spain does not know where to send them back. After 40 days, the government is forced to release them.

The proposed law would also limit the common practice of bringing relatives to live in Spain. Currently, an immigrant who has been here at least a year can bring their spouse, parents and children under the age of 18.

But under the proposed reform, immigrants will have to live in Spain for at least five years and obtain permanent residency before they can bring parents over, and the parents must be over 64.

The idea is to avoid attracting more working-age people who might end up on unemployment.

In November, Spain began paying unemployed immigrants their joblessness benefits in a lump sum if they went home for three years. But so far the program is a dud, attracting fewer than 800 people in contrast to Labor Ministry expectations of tens of thousands of applicants.

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