by Pablo Montesinos Aguayo

According to a recent survey, illegal immigration, as well as unemployment is today one of the most important problems in Spain. This country faces nowadays three major conflicting points, in which one can include: the border with Morocco, the Canary Island and the process of regularization of the Government. The main aim is to finish with the deaths of people who illegally try to come to Spain.

Immigration is today not only a problem in Spain, but also all around the European Union (EU). During the last month one may have noticed some meetings between the presidency of the Union and members of the Spanish Government here in Finland. The objective is to regulate the problem of immigration. In Spain there are three conflicting points. The first is the border with Morocco in Ceuta y Melilla (Spanish cities in Africa). These cities have always had many problems with the immigration flows, but last summer it was considered the worst ever. Hundreds of immigrants jumped over the walls of the border and many of them injured themselves. In order to solve this situation, the government decided to send the army near to the border and now the situation is normalized, although some immigrants died. They died because to jump the border is very difficult and sometimes the wounds in the immigrants are very serious and they died in the hospitals. Also there are problems with the mafias of their countries. If the immigrants do not pay all the money they can have many problems. The situation is very complicated.

The problem now arises from the immigrant’ centers. The ONGs are collapsed and there is major delinquency. In these moments, in Ceuta and Melilla, there are two special centers for immigrants’ children. These places have about one hundred beds, but the problem is that there are more than three hundred children needing a place to sleep. When situations like this happen, the children escape and normally become homeless, stealing the citizens or breaking urban furniture. The police cannot detain them because they are minor aged, and so they have to be taken back to the centres they escaped from. Once back there, they return to escape. Ceuta and Melilla need major economic help from of the European Union and from the Spanish Government.

The second “scene” of the immigration in Spain is in the Canary Island. Normally, people know these islands for its beauty and tourist attractions, but the last month, images of immigrants in small boats, “callucos”, have been in all the informative services, including television. The immigrants have paid a lot of money back in their countries to get a place in these boats. These boats are made of wood and many people have not been able to make their way to the Canary Islands.

Last week, Canary Islands have received four hundred immigrants in small boats. This situation has provoked the clash between the local government and the national government. In Canaries, the citizens ask for more help for the new special centers. This matter has been feverously discussed. On the other hand, Canary Islands have the same problem as Melilla and Ceuta. Their centers are collapsed and they need new buildings and more institutional helps.

The third matter is about the process of regularization of the Government. The opposition says that such process is not good because it caused a problem that concerns the fact that immigrants are not able to apply for the official papers to reside in Spanish land. For this reason, Partido Popular (the most important political party in the opposition) said “no” when voting in the Spanish’ Congress. This is an important problem because this situation needs a common agreement between all the political parties, so they can be able to help both the immigrants and the society. But in these very moments they do not have a common opinion and the problems around immigrants are a part of the political strategy of the parties. This clash provokes a division in the society too.

Furthermore, the immigration has other conflicting point. In Andalusia, every day new boats arrive at the beaches, and the problem is that their special centers are collapsed. To Madrid, planes with immigrants of the Canary Islands tend to arrive on a regular basis. This situation has developed racist movements, for what many ONGs are helping these people and their arise in the society.