An Immigration Experiment Worth Watching in Spain By DAVID C. UNGER <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> Published: March 20, 2005 New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> M <http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/m.gif> adrid — As so much of the Western world debates imposing tighter restrictions on immigration, it's a good time to take a look at Spain. The year-old Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is moving in the opposite direction, toward a more enlightened system that aims to reduce the number of illegal foreigners by simplifying the path to legal recognition. It is too soon to know how well Spain's new approach will work or if it is even possible for one country in an increasingly borderless Europe to chart a distinctive course. But if Madrid's experiment is a success, it could become a model for other countries struggling to balance the need for additional labor with fears that terrorists could hide their tracks among large communities of foreign workers forced to live outside the legal system. The new Spanish policies largely reflect the thinking of Consuelo Rumi, the government's state secretary for immigration. As a symbol of the new approach, Ms. Rumi's offices have been moved out of the Interior Ministry, whose main business is policing, and are now housed in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Enforcement is still a priority: electronic barriers are being built along Spanish coastlines and new bilateral agreements have been reached so that foreigners who do not qualify for legal residence are swiftly returned to their home countries. What is different is that the large and rapidly expanding flow of foreigners into Spain is now frankly recognized as an economic phenomenon which can and should be coordinated with the labor needs of Spanish employers. Although Spain's overall unemployment rate hovers above 10 percent, the economy is desperately short of people willing to do some of the manual jobs Spaniards shun, for example in construction and agriculture. There are plenty of willing workers available to fill these jobs from North and Central Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Its open borders with France and Portugal and the proximity of impoverished nations in North Africa - Morocco is only nine miles away at the closest point - make Spain an attractive destination for foreign workers, legal and illegal. Of the estimated 2.7 million foreigners now in Spain, 1 million are believed to be there illegally, more than three times as many as in 2001. That increase testifies to the failure of the previous government's policies, which were characterized by an overreliance on police sweeps and deportations. The more sophisticated approach now being tested rests on the sound premise that by regulating and smoothing the process of legal labor migration, illegal migration can be more effectively monitored and controlled. As a first step toward drawing foreigners out of the underground economy, the government is currently offering legal residency papers to people with no criminal record and a six-month labor contract in hand from an employer. After this amnesty expires in May, workers who fail to qualify will be deported, while those who employ them will face fines of more than $80,000 per illegal employee. Bringing eligible foreign workers into legal daylight makes it easier for the authorities to keep track of their employment status and their whereabouts. Making sure they are paid on the books and with appropriate social insurance contributions deducted should make their presence more acceptable to Spanish public opinion. Spain, like the United States and most Western countries, recognizes that people facing ethnic or political persecution in their home countries have a right to apply for refugee status. More unusually for Europe, Madrid is also opening a small door toward the kind of skills-based immigration offered by countries like Canada. Under an experimental system, highly qualified immigrants without labor contracts will be permitted to live legally in Spain for a limited period while they seek work. And recognizing that the trade, foreign and development policies of wealthier countries sometimes inadvertently contribute to the tide of desperate economic migrants by destroying third world agriculture and jobs, Ms. Rumi meets regularly with Spanish officials working in other ministries to try to achieve better policy coordination. In immigration, as in other areas of government, grand strategies often have unintended and unwanted consequences. But if the new Spanish policies do manage to achieve their ambitious aims, they could help set a positive precedent on a continent that has always been uneasy about welcoming foreigners and where xenophobic populism is a mounting political danger. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. 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