Immigration is one of the biggest problems that rich countries in the northern hemisphere, namely the United States and the European Union (EU), face today. Huge numbers of people are risking their lives in the hope of leaving the political, economic and social poverty of the South for the golden ticket of opportunity that the North supposedly offers. This has caused a demographic disaster whose considerable consequences will be felt all over the world. Let us now consider causes, effects and possible solutions for this turbulent situation that the beginning of the new millennium has brought us.
A brutal truth to begin with: the wealth enjoyed today by the most industrialised countries is due in part to the exploitation of the (incorrectly dubbed) "third world's" resources that took place over many centuries of fierce colonisation. Denying this fact would be tantamount to rewriting history books. Decolonisation left these ransacked countries on the margins of the world market, a price that they continue to pay thanks to the eternal burden of foreign debt.
In this context, the narrow-mindedness shown by the conquerors' descendants when they critically observe and judge the arrival of their bastard children, who cross the ocean in search of a better life, is not only incomprehensible but outrageous. It is much like what their ancestors did, only in reverse.
Over the last decade, thousands of sub-Saharan Africans crossed a large part of the continent, undertaking hellish journeys lasting months and even years, with the single purpose of crossing the border that separates Africa and Europe. They are dependent upon their little strength and desperate desires, which keep them alive, to spur them on towards the final and most dangerous test: jumping the security fences, taking refuge in the atrocious living conditions inside the Moroccan forests that border the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. After this seemingly interminable journey, many decide to continue the adventure by sea, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar in rafts. Some arrive at their destination, but far too many die shot, drowned, malnourished or of total exhaustion.
Following the two human avalanches at the Melilla fence at the end of September during last year, the alarmed media's primary concern was to show the world these young migrants' desperation to embark on a suicide mission towards a violent armed repression by both the Spanish and Moroccan security forces. "Save yourself if you can" , for it is preferable to die across borders, in such way, with the chance of reaching the land of opportunity, rather than to continue living in poverty in their countries of origin. World politics and economics are leading us to this brutally unjust state of affairs, which is just one of today's many social emergencies.
Latin American migrants face a rather different situation when trying to reach Spain, especially those who have chosen the country for linguistic reasons. Their misfortune is not experienced during the journey itself, but soon after they arrive at their destination. Upon their arrival, most immigrants are inundated with both legal and cultural obstacles that they must overcome in order to find the life and forge the future that they had dreamed of.
The conservative governments that led Europe from the end of the 1990s until the beginning of this decade did not collaborate on the issue of the immigrants' social integration. The law regarding the Rights and Freedoms of Foreigners in Spain, which was passed in 1985, proved to be not only politically and socially unworkable but insufficient, regressive and oppressive. It served only to deepen differences between Spanish nationals and immigrants, leaving the newcomers even more marginalised.
In 2000, the right-wing regime run by the ex Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, reformed the aforementioned law under the excuse of making it more effective in the context of human rights. However, his insensitivity regarding immigration was exposed after his ill-fated handling of the violent incidents occurred two years ago in Ceuta. Since then, he has added fuel to the fire, causing the Spanish public opinion to further reject foreigners and to demonise the migrant population.
Today, the average Spanish citizen relates immigrants -especially the Latin, African and Arab ones- to the rise in crime, prostitution and illegal drug trafficking. A study carried out on the impact of the foreign population on a rise in crime in Spain by Juan Avilés Farré in Februrary 2002, suggests that between 1992 and 2000, the number of arrests has trebled. If at the beginning of the nineties, 1 in 10 inmates was foreign, by 2000 that figure was 1 in 5.
It would seem that public opinion has plenty of reasons to think as it does, but it makes no sense to tar all these people with the same brush. All of this shows a failure in Spanish democracy that, during the Aznar years until today, is unable to establish a minimum of equality, justice and solidarity for immigrants. Even worse, most of these immigrants find themselves at the mercy of the scams carried out by the organised people-trafficking mafias.
There are many women who are lured to Europe under a false promise of work and are actually forced to sell their bodies in order to pay for the journey and other costs that have built up along the way. This fate is shared by many who find themselves crammed into miniscule apartments with dozens of immigrants from various places, where they are forced to pay massive amounts of rent for a decrepit shared mattress. Is this the right way to reach progress?
In Spain, things changed slightly (and for the better) following the installation of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist-led government. Since the beginning, Rodríguez Zapatero promised to deal with the widespread problem of immigration, using more prudent and compassionate measures to bring order to the situation. For example, at the beginning of 2005, he declared an amnesty so that 700,000 illegal immigrants could be regularised, but only if a number of reasonable conditions were met.
It continues to be undeniable that despite these efforts, immigrants are still between the proverbial rock and a hard place, often disparaged because of their supposed link to society's decline, whilst their irrefutable contribution to both the economic and political progress of the host country is almost always underestimated. Not only do immigrants constitute a cheap work force (a euphemism for exploitation), but also a vital solution for alleviating the citizens' future pension deficit, considering amongst other factors the alarming decrease in the European birth rate.
Furthermore, the 9/11 attacks saw a rise in fear and intolerance of foreigners in Europe. This behaviour was directed in particular at those of Arab origin, despite the fact many of them had been born on the continent.
Today it is possible to see the results of that indiscriminate, negative association in the wave of violence that was unleashed upon the suburbs of France's biggest cities. Certainly, not only vast infrastructure was damaged, but also and most importantly, the country's least favoured population experienced the outburst of social discontent. As a result of these events, the French Minister of Internal Affairs, Nicolás Sarkozy, declared that "the model of social integration has failed". But in his desire to contain the violence, he employed drastic measures such as passing the first curfew in 50 years, and implementing a policy that permitted that all foreigners sentenced during the disturbance be expelled from the country, regardless of whether or not they were legal aliens.
The use of this kind of deportation can be added to the agreement reached last July by the EU's 5 strongest countries: France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. This agreement decided that a number of air flights would start repatriating a large percentage of the illegal immigrants saturating their territory.
The first flight took place at the end of September, when 75 illegal immigrants were picked up in Spain. The aircraft then continued on to France and Italy, where another 50 were picked up. Their final destination: Rumania. The plan also provides for possible joint action with the Navy in order to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants through the Mediterranean Sea. The next targets that are in sight will be the Latin American citizens that are in Spain without the appropriate documentation, with special attention being paid to Colombian and Ecuadorean nationals.
The text of the European Constitution regarding asylum and immigration makes little distinction between the two, trying to strike a balance between security demands made by member states whilst at the same time respecting European human rights values. It seems it would make more sense to reach solutions in the immigrants' countries of origin rather than their destination. The fact that there is a need to destroy the trafficking mafias is unfortunately understated. However, a massive transfer of capital and productive technology to developing countries, along with a full cancellation of their foreign debt, and the application of measures that guarantee democratic liberties throughout the world could hopefully, in theory, begin to realign the world's migratory balance, thwarting the inequality that today is plaguing most of humanity.
Translated by Alice Kilgarriff
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