Interviewed in English edition of El País

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

18 meses de cárcel por buscar una vida mejor

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?

More Spanish coverage

Toumaï, la revista para los inmigrantes, reports on the Spanish launch of Inmigrantes

Also, Público, a Spanish daily, has published my article on why the EU directive that would allow irregular migrants to be locked up for 18 months, is unfair and misconceived. 

Los inmigrantes salvan el Estado del bienestar

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.

Inmigrantes: Tu país los necesita

I'm delighted that Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them is being published in Spanish by Intermón Oxfam. The official launch is on 11 June at the Madrid Book Fair, where I'll be speaking (in Spanish).

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 Luis Zapatero, will block Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals for an EU immigration pact that would commit European governments not to resort to mass regularisation in future.

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.

Dejemos entrar a los inmigrantes

Integral, a Spanish magazine, have just published my article, entitled "Let immigrants in"

Spain leads the way for Europe on migration

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.

Now, it is encouraging employers to recruit temporary workers from Africa in a bid to discourage Africans from risking their lives trying to reach Spain piled high on flimsy boats. A delegation of Spanish employers arrives in Senegal today to recruit labour for construction work and the summer harvest, the FT reports.

Ideally, borders should be open. But if that is not possible for now, opening up a legal route for migrants to come work is a big step forward.