Yeni Sánchez, 33 years old, is Honduran and has been living in Girona with her husband for three years. She has two children, a boy and a girl. In recent months, she has been living in an irregular situation after losing international protection. This week, however, she has been able to apply for the "extraordinary regulation for migrants. She has already submitted the application and, within weeks, she expects to have the provisional response to obtain residence and work permits. "It has been a horrible few months, but now I'm starting to feel calm and very hopeful," she explains.

In a recent interview on TV3, Maria Teresa Cabré (president of the IEC) argued that, for Catalan to become a truly shared language, new approaches are needed. Among the ideas she proposed, one is particularly suggestive from the outset: hybridization. The proposal is clear: if Catalonia wants immigration to embrace Catalan, it is not enough to demand its learning; a good welcome is necessary, fostering a sense of belonging, and making real affection for the language possible.The idea, formulated like this, is difficult to reject. No society can aspire to turn its language into a common space if it is not capable of welcoming, recognizing, and incorporating. The problem, however, is not the goodness of the premise, but its insufficiency. The approach of hybridization emphasizes the relational and social dimension of the bond with the language, but it leaves in the background what is decisive today: the structural conditions in which immigrants, their descendants, and othered groups live.It is not enough to say that Catalan speakers must “permeabilize” themselves for there to be more interaction, more meeting, and, from there, more adherence to Catalan. This may work in some cases. But turning this intuition into a general answer is, at the very least, a simplification. It assumes that the distance between the language and a part of the population is, above all, a problem of lack of contact, when it is often the expression of a much deeper social fracture.In Catalonia, this fracture cannot be understood without racism. Not only in its explicit and xenophobic expression, but also in more diffuse, normalized, and difficult-to-identify forms, embedded in institutional practices, social expectations, collective imaginaries, and daily classifications. It is a racism that continues to operate, often without being recognized as such, even in spaces that think of themselves as committed to social justice. This blindness is not only moral: it is also epistemological, because it prevents understanding what happens with language in contexts of inequality. If immigrant and otherized people live more exposed to school, residential, and labor segregation, to discrimination in access to housing, to symbolic degradation in public representation, or to forms of selective secularism that fall mainly on certain religious groups, then the relationship with language cannot be thought of solely in terms of affective welcome.

Stricter barriers to enter the country, but equal rights for people who regularize their situation. The watermelon theory, which advocates for exhaustive border controls but more inclusive rights for residents, seems to perfectly fit the opinion of the majority of Catalans. This is reflected in the ARA survey, conducted by YouGov, which is published this weekend. 66% of respondents are in favor of making the conditions for entering and settling in Catalonia (and, by default, in Spain, which has the powers in immigration) more restrictive, a percentage much higher than those who believe they should remain as they are (17%) or should be even more permissive (9%).

We offer you a survey to know what Catalans think about hot topics such as immigration, Trump and the rent cap, and also what would be the voting intention for the Parliament.

Killing children is not easy; one must know how. In abstract terms, extermination proclamations of an entire people can be made, as Netanyahu or other genocidal leaders do, but the truth is that this job –annihilating creatures– cannot be done by just anyone. Who will go door to door, when the extermination of an entire race is decreed, to finish off all the children living there? Who will be able to pull the trigger or drop a bomb, who will aim with a squinted eye directly at the head of a child who barely stands a few feet tall? Who will plunge a knife into tender flesh and endure the sharp, horrifying screams? Very few people, in fact, could carry out the worst of acts, the most fatal and terrible: ending the life of a defenseless sprout. That is why soldiers must be trained to dehumanize the other in a process that is two-way. Because it is impossible to see “the enemy” in a creature if one has not suffered a significant erosion of one’s own humanity.

When she was 6 years old, teacher Maryam El Hamidi (Tangier, 1994) experienced firsthand the ordeal her students have recently gone through. With her mother and sister, they came to live in Castelló d’Empúries to reunite with her father in the year 2000. "In the schools where I have worked, they see me as a mirror. Especially women, they see a role model. Perhaps I haven't gone through the same circumstances as them, but I know their needs. I give them confidence and motivation. If the road is long, I make it shorter," assures El Hamidi.

The balance of the first week of the regularization of the 150,000 migrants living and in many cases working in Catalonia is summarized by 12-hour queues at the doors of town halls and social entities to obtain the vulnerability report and by the consequences of having had to improvise at the last minute to adapt to the definitive wording of the approved instruction. "They say we don't need the vulnerability report or the census, but I know people who then don't have their application accepted," says Elida Rojas, a Bolivian with two children to support.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has opened a rift in his own party with the adoption of the principle of "national priority", an emblem of the far-right Le Penist movement that has been spreading across the rest of Europe, but which the PP had never embraced. What's more, it had vehemently rejected it.

The extraordinary regularization of migrants that in recent days has left Although specialists criticize the lack of transparency regarding how many people are interned, in 2024 a total of 1,863 people passed through these detention centres, according to the latest report from the Jesuit Migrant Service. Among them were 85 women and 853 applicants for international protection, and almost half were not repatriated, according to the entity. The same entity denounced in the report the lack of public information to periodically know data on internment.

The agreements between PP and Vox in Extremadura and Aragon have had a "box or fence" that was not only about management, but above all about ideological war. On paper, Vox has won it with the achievement for the first time of "national priority" in "aid, subsidies, and public benefits" – in both regions. As ARA has been able to learn, Vox approached the negotiations as a key scenario for the cultural battle a year before the Spanish elections, with two essential axes: immigration based on the slogan "first those from home"; and deregulation, the chainsaw of the Argentine Javier Milei. National priority has been an agreed element as a prelude to new offensives: "It is the Overton window," say consulted Vox sources, who cite a concept from political science that describes the progressive acceptance of ideas that were initially rejected.

After two editions focused on the horror of Gaza, this year the World Press Photo has turned its gaze towards the deportations of immigrants to the United States and has decided to award American photographer Carol Guzy, of ZUMA Press and iWitness. Thus, the award for photo of the year goes to Separated by ICE, a photograph taken for the Miami Herald in one of the few federal buildings in the U.S. to which photojournalists had access. Guzy's image captures the dramatic moment when a family is separated by U.S. government agents.

Her hair really catches the eye. She herself admits that she feels observed wherever she goes and that she is tired of being stopped in the street to be asked if they can touch her hair or if they simply touch it without her permission. Isabel Balde, 32, has beautiful afro hair. The kind that's a huge ball of curls. "People are not aware that touching someone's hair is invading personal space," she says, as her hairdresser styles it and she looks proudly in the mirror. It wasn't always like this. She used to hate her hair.

Japan is moving towards a tightening of controls in strategic technological sectors, a direction that is beginning to generate concern in the business community. Within the framework of the new economic security law and in a context of geopolitical rivalry with Beijing, Tokyo has strengthened mechanisms to protect critical infrastructure and data, especially in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, or batteries. Although the legal framework does not establish explicit restrictions on international recruitment, various sectors warn that the increase in regulatory complexity and the introduction of stricter security criteria could deter the arrival of foreign talent in areas crucial for the country's growth.

The PP will bring to a vote this Wednesday in Congress a text in which it asks to "prioritize access to aid, subsidies and public benefits, as well as access to protected housing and social rent, for people who prove a real, lasting and verifiable connection to the territory, inspired by the principle of national priority". In this way, the popular party affirms, they transfer to the lower house "the soul" of the agreement with Vox in Extremadura. Undoubtedly, this is a relevant move, as Alberto Núñez Feijóo decides to adopt a principle that has historically been linked to the far-right, and especially to French lepenism, despite the reservations expressed by prominent figures in his party such as Isabel Díaz Ayuso or Juanma Moreno Bonilla.

Girona is a medium-sized city of just over 100,000 inhabitants. Within a few kilometers, a diverse and contrasting urban landscape is concentrated, with very little physical distance between affluent and humbler neighborhoods. As confirmed by the data from the Annual Population Census of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), analyzed by ARA, district 2, which includes Montilivi and part of Palau, has around 9% of its population born abroad, while, at the same level, but on the southwest side of the city, in Santa Eugènia, this proportion exceeds 50%. the data from the Annual Population Census of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), analyzed by ARA,district 2, which includes Montilivi and part of Palau, has around 9% of its population born abroad, while, at this same level, but on the southwest side of the city, in Santa Eugènia, this proportion exceeds 50%.

Mapping immigration in Catalonia says a lot about who we are. In the interactive published by ARA this week, the blue that colors the entire territory, in different intensities, leaves no room for doubt: we are a country of immigration. Currently, 24% of Catalans were born abroad. This percentage is comparable to that of countries like Canada and New Zealand.But we are not only a country of immigration, but we have become one very quickly. At two points: between 2000 and 2007 and, once the effects of the economic crisis had passed, from 2014 onwards. In recent years, driven by economic growth, the figures have been increasing significantly. If before the pandemic immigration contributed about 70,000 new residents annually, in recent years this figure has reached 110,000-120,000.The interactive also shows that we are a country of diverse immigration. Diverse in origin: almost half come from Latin America (44.8%) and, to a lesser extent, from Europe (22.1%), Africa (20.8%), and Asia (11.3%). The list of nationalities extends to 170, painting an exceptionally pluralistic picture. But immigration is also diverse in socioeconomic terms: in addition to people seeking a better life, Catalonia attracts many citizens from the European Union and other high-income countries, from digital nomads to multinational employees and retirees.Although it is not visible in the interactive, we are a country of young immigration. One of the differentiating features of immigrant people in Catalonia is their youth: while 88% of foreigners are between 15 and 64 years old, the percentage of nationals in the same age group is 66%. It has a double explanation: they arrive young, but, as Andreu Domingo recalls, the youngest are included in the so-called "empty generations" (like the millennials), that is, generations marked by a considerable drop in birth rates. Being a country of young immigration in a context of an aging population implies that our future is linked to theirs.We are also a country of immigration in its entirety: both in large cities and in rural areas. Unlike many European countries, the population remains diverse as we move away from large urban centers. The interactive is also very clear in this regard: Barcelona and most of the surrounding municipalities have less immigration than those in Alt Empordà, La Segarra, and other points in the regions of Girona and Lleida. The reason is basically economic: the immigrant population concentrates in places where the economic sectors in which they are overrepresented dominate, such as agriculture and the meat industry, construction, and tourism. Although immigration is distributed throughout the territory, we are a country of immigration that segregates. As the interactive shows, the foreign population concentrates in certain municipalities or neighborhoods. For example, we go from 39% in Barcelona to 7% in Matadepera, and from 87.5% in the Gothic Quarter to 24% in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. More residential segregation, more school segregation. Therefore, although we are a country of immigration, the reality is that populations with diverse origins and socioeconomic positions do not always cross paths, neither in the streets nor in schools.As a segregating country of immigration, the immigrant population not only concentrates in certain territories but also distributes unevenly based on origin. While those born in America are represented throughout the territory, those born in Africa are the majority in Lleida and along the Transversal Axis, and those from the rest of Europe are overrepresented in municipalities like Sant Just Desvern and Esplugues de Llobregat. We have, therefore, a country where diversity manifests in different ways. While this would not necessarily be a problem in itself, it becomes one when this distribution reflects inequalities based on income.We are, therefore, undoubtedly, a country of immigration. But we run the risk of also being a fractured country if the poor are predominantly those we perceive as the “others”, if inequality (worryingly growing) coincides with origin and territory, if the place of birth determines the place we occupy in the labor market, if the origin of parents decisively conditions the school results of their children or if the concentration in certain municipalities and neighborhoods, without accompaniment and resizing of public services, makes the neighbors who have not left feel abandoned.Being a country of immigration, like the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, has always been mentioned as positive. However, when the benefits are concentrated (especially in the economic sectors that depend on these workers) and the costs are socialized (especially in certain territories and social sectors), being a country of immigration in these circumstances can be a real ticking time bomb.

The Martínez Mejía family has been denied a mortgage four times, despite being backed by the salaries of all four members, and they have to continue living in a rented apartment in La Torrassa —a neighborhood in L'Hospitalet where 54% of residents were born abroad— that is falling apart. The apartment is so small that one of the sons, in his twenties, has to sleep in the same room as his parents. For the Khans, the father's good salary does not open doors to the homes they like and could afford. “Even with money, I can't live where I want,” complains Atusa Khan. The couple and their two young daughters are subletting in the El Raval neighborhood of Barcelona – with 64% of residents born abroad.

We have looked at how immigrants are distributed in Catalonia, with data by counties, municipalities, and census districts, to see if there are areas at risk of segregation.

The PP and Vox have taken four months to reach an agreement in Extremadura that seems like a pact of circumstances, signed because time was running out, but which contains enough conflictive points to think they will have many problems putting it into practice. Immigration and healthcare will be the most controversial aspects, because the mentality with which these two chapters are treated is clearly restrictive of rights. The campaigns that have been launched previously to prepare the ground will not satisfy the expectations of the signatory parties. Spanish society, by a large majority, does not share the idea that immigrants are a group of criminals responsible for the saturation of public healthcare, while receiving unjustified subsidies.

In a previous article I argued that it is imperative to slow down the pace of our immigration if we want to save social cohesion, given that its impact on housing and schools is devastating. These are not the only public services and infrastructures under pressure, but they are the most critical.