http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=11249
Migrants get permits under Spanish amnesty ISN SECURITY WATCH (09/05/05) - The Spanish government on Sunday completed a massive immigration reform begun in February by granting nearly 700,000 new work and residency permits to immigrants. Spanish Labor Minister Jes�s Caldera applauded the three-month registration drive, which ended late on Saturday, as a huge success. In the face of opposition to the generous amnesty deal for illegal immigrants, Spain's Socialist government has argued that the move would bring an end to the exploitation and illegal employment of the unregistered workforce in the country. The labor minister told reporters that the amnesty would lead to the legalization of up to 90 per cent of illegal immigrant workers in the country. In order to qualify for the amnesty, immigrants were required to present both a job contract and proof that they had been living in Spain for at least six months. With those documents, they are entitled to work and residence permits for the duration of their employment. The Spanish government estimates the amnesty will raise social security contributions by up to �1.5 billion over the next year. Spain also said it would likely grant an additional 400,000 residence permits to children and close relatives of illegal workers who qualified for the amnesty. Critics of the plan say the government's amnesty program has attracted and will continue to attract many more illegal immigrants from nearby countries - such as France, Germany, and Italy. Spanish Prime Minister Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero has staunchly defended the deal, touting his government's efforts to meet the needs of the country's booming economy. Cheap foreign labor has been the main reason for Spain's economic boom, and has helped to curb inflationary pressure and lowered unemployment to 10 per cent, down from 23 per cent a decade ago. "We are creating order where there was chaos," Zapatero said in a television interview. "It would have been cynical and hypocritical if we had done nothing to end the abuse of illegal labor in Spain," he said. According to government statistics, the number of foreigners living in Spain has increased to 650,000 since January 2004, bringing their total to 3.69 million, or 8.4 per cent of the overall population of 44 million. Most of the immigrants in Spain are from Latin America, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, according to those same statistics. Illegal workers from Ecuador top the list of those applying for the amnesty, with 21 per cent, followed by immigrants from Romania, Morocco, and Colombia. According to the statistics, some 42 per cent of the applicants were women. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
