Aware of his parliamentary weakness, Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE have decided to make an all-or-nothing bet to turn the Spanish president into a progressive benchmark, both internally and internationally. For now, it's working for them, also in the State: fewer and fewer people doubt that he can complete the legislature, and the shells with which the PP thought to break his waterline (starting with the alleged judicial scandals relating to his wife, his brother, and even his late father-in-law) have rather remained wet gunpowder.Within the failed ammunition, there are also reproaches against the new regularization of immigrants, which has come into effect with the last-minute incorporation, by the Spanish government, of the criminal record certificate requirement. Requesting a criminal record certificate from people who in many cases will find it difficult to obtain it (because in their countries of origin, often impoverished and damaged by war, corruption and/or poverty, they will not be issued it) is equivalent to short-circuiting the regularization process with an administrative hurdle that, for many, may be insurmountable. This should have forced a review of the opposition's arguments against this measure, but it has not been the case: the right-wing, extreme and not-so-extreme, have once again spun the rosary of immigration as a source of crime and recidivism. Feijóo, even, resorted to the old fallacy of immigrant rapists.In our homeland, in the Catalan Countries, the reaction of again presenting immigration as a tool for Hispanization and the substitution or elimination of Catalan (or Mallorcan, or Valencian) identity, in addition to a solid imbecility, is an expression of weakness that clearly goes against the ability of Catalanism and separatism to gain supporters among newcomers. You are an immigrant arriving in the country, or who is born and grows up there, and within the political landscape you see some who accuse you of being a colon sent by someone with the purpose of liquidating the country, language, and culture: you already know who you will never want to go anywhere with.While this was happening, the Spanish president undertook a Chinese tour in which he met directly with Xi Jinping, and on his return he landed in Barcelona to host an international progressive summit (or an anti-Trump summit, as it has also been called) which obviously goes against Catalan independence and at the same time further strengthens Sánchez's role as a left-wing benchmark. It remains to be seen what content all this has (content means consequences in the form of policies) and if it has any electoral effect (traditionally, the impact of the international agenda on election results is low), but what cannot be said of Sánchez is that he is standing idly by. On the other hand, mans plegades is an expression that can be used to describe political options based on catastrophism, resentment, and discontent. For whatever reason, those who present themselves as losers do not usually generate enthusiasm.

The process to request the extraordinary regularization of migrants is already underway. From Thursday, April 16, procedures can be carried out online, and from Monday the 20th, they can also be done in person, with mandatory prior appointment, at the Social Security and Post Office branches. More than half a million people living in Catalonia and Spain irregularly can benefit from the regularization, and the procedure is open until June 30.

After demanding the tightening of criteria for the extraordinary regularization of migrants in Spain, Junts goes a step further against the measure approved by the government of Pedro Sánchez and from which half a million people will benefit. Carles Puigdemont's party has announced that it will take the regularization to Europe because it "ignores the requirement of knowing Catalan". The party has commissioned its legal department to prepare "the presentation of a complaint before the European institutions for the violation of various directives and the marginalization of a co-official language as an integration criterion", as detailed this Friday in a statement.

Less than 24 hours after the Council of Ministers approved the royal decree that will serve to regularize the situation of more than half a million immigrants throughout the State, long queues have returned in the center of Barcelona to obtain all the documentation to carry out the procedures. One of the points where a significant number of people have accumulated is the Citizen Attention Office of Barcelona in Plaça Sant Miquel, next to the cathedral. This Wednesday morning the queue to access this service goes around the building and the complaint that "things are not moving forward" is repeated. Most have been waiting for three hours. Although there are citizens waiting to carry out all kinds of procedures, there are also many people who come to do paperwork to be able to access the regularization process, which begins this Thursday, April 16, remotely.

In Spain, the process of obtaining residency and work permits is so cumbersome and complicated that carrying out extraordinary regularization processes has already become a custom. The goal is to end administrative bottlenecks and pockets of irregular immigration that, in turn, fuel the black economy and the perpetuation of situations of social vulnerability. These regularizations have been carried out by socialist and popular governments. There were them in 1986, 1991, and 1996 under Felipe González, in 2000 and 2001 under José María Aznar, and in 2005 and 2006 under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The last one, therefore, was twenty years ago, before the migratory boom after the global recession of 2008-2012.

Green light for the regularization of migrants. After the public hearing process and the mandatory reports, the Spanish government approved this Tuesday the royal decree that will serve to regularize the situation of more than half a million people who are already in the State but do not have their rights recognized. "It is an act of coherence and social justice," proclaimed the spokesperson and head of this portfolio, Elma Saiz, this Tuesday. "It is a historic measure and has all the legal guarantees," she added. How will the procedure work, however?

Isabela doesn't want to think about what will become of her life if she cannot avail herself of the extraordinary regularization that the Spanish government is to launch in the coming weeks to grant residence permits to half a million foreigners who meet criteria that, at present, are provisional. The decree approved by Pedro Sánchez's executive still has to go through the Council of State to return once more to the council of ministers. Although there are unknowns about how the fine print will turn out, Isabela is sure that hers is an impossible mission because the relevant 10 years have not passed since she completed her sentence to be able to annul her criminal record and, in the draft of the text, any stain on the criminal record is invalidating.

At the beginning of the year, the PSOE and Podemos parties agreed on a mass regularization of migrants to grant legal status to half a million people already living in Spain. They did so by drafting immigration regulations to avoid having to go through Congress, where they would have struggled to secure a majority to pass them. However, the PP has found a loophole to try to influence the Senate through the law on repeat offenses, promoted by Junts and approved last week in the upper house. The PP pushed for an amendment to toughen the conditions for the regularization of migrants, and, as ARA has learned, Junts will vote in favor this Thursday in the final vote in Congress. The regularization will still go ahead, but controls for obtaining a residence permit will be increased.

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration and spokesperson for the Spanish government, Elma Saiz, vehemently defended the extraordinary regularization program announced by the Executive. In a conversation with the president of the Círculo de Economía (Circle of Economy), Teresa Garcia-Milà, she stated that "orderly and integrated immigration is the key to sustaining economic prosperity in the coming decades." In response to questions from Garcia-Milà, she applauded the fact that some autonomous communities, such as Catalonia, are demanding powers regarding immigration within the constitutional framework. She acknowledged that there are issues, such as healthcare and others, that require local management. Saiz participated in the Cercle after the organization published an opinion piece a few days ago calling for the regulation of migration flows and their adaptation to an economic model based on improving productivity. The minister, who congratulated the Catalan organization for opening the debate on the issue, noted that the people who will be eligible for regularization "are already here" and rejected claims by some political groups that the new arrivals will overwhelm public services. The data, she added, shows that they do not overwhelm public services, but rather "contribute to sustaining them." It is, in any case, the responsibility of public administrations to size public services according to the population, the Spanish government spokesperson said. She asserted that "when immigration is managed well, it is not a threat but an opportunity for growth and for strengthening democratic society."

Josep Sala i Cullell is a geography teacher at a high school in Norway. His first essay, Plug generation, It sparked some controversy when addressing generational power struggles. Now it returns with We are not 6 million (Portico), A book in which he calls for open discussion about immigration and criticizes the fact that we have been sold, as inevitable, a model designed to favor employers and harm workers.

Within the framework of the regularization of half a million immigrants initiated by the Spanish government, the Generalitat has presented a series of amendments to the public hearing of the Royal Decree so that Catalan is taken into account when renewing residence permits. Specifically, they are requesting that Catalan language learning be assessed after one year. The Spanish government, through sources at the Ministry of Migration, assures that there is no final text yet and it is still being processed. However, they do warn that there will be no "obligation" to know Catalan or Spanish when granting residence to the half a million immigrants awaiting regularization, some 150,000 of whom are in Catalonia. "It is in the public consultation phase; different contributions will be accepted, which in no case include the obligation to know any official language to receive the initial residence and work permit," say the sources at Migration. In other words, they will not require either Catalan or Spanish when granting the permit.

The Government has welcomed the extraordinary regularization of half a million immigrants Announced by the State, this program could benefit up to 150,000 people in Catalonia. However, the Catalan government wants to introduce a modification: that knowledge of Catalan be "taken into account" when regularized migrants face their first renewal of residence permits. This proposal arose from the first follow-up meeting of the National Pact for the Language, chaired by the Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila. The Catalan government will present an amendment to the Spanish government's royal decree to introduce this change.

The Spanish government, in a measure agreed with Podemos, has approved an extraordinary regularization of immigrantsCurrent estimates calculate that the measure will regularize the status of half a million people. If there are no last-minute changes, this will represent the seventh extraordinary regularization process. Three of these were initiated by Felipe González's PSOE, two by José María Aznar's PP, and the last by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the most extensive to date. In total, nearly 1.2 million people have benefited from these extraordinary measures, a figure that could grow substantially with the first regularization in twenty years.

Social organizations will be integrated into the process for regularizing immigrants in Catalonia, which is expected to begin in April and could benefit between 120,000 and 150,000 migrants in Catalonia. This is one of the main conclusions of the summit held this Wednesday between the Catalan government, the Spanish government delegation, representatives of unions and employers' associations, local administrations, and the third sector. The objective of the meeting was to lay the groundwork for a national "alliance" to support citizens who need to complete this process. The aim is to create a broad network of individuals and organizations that will facilitate the regularization process, for example, by making information about the requirements more accessible. In addition to collaborating with social organizations, the Catalan government is studying whether citizen service offices should be activated to expedite procedures. "We are in the process of figuring out how to get started," assured the Minister of Social Rights, Mònica Martínez Bravo. Evidence of the need for a clearer and more streamlined process to benefit from this regulation has been seen in recent days at the Pakistani consulate in Barcelona, ​​where training sessions have been held over the past week. queues of hundreds of people who came to obtain one of the documents necessary to qualify for regularization.

Clash on social media between Elon Musk and Irene Montero: the tech magnate has accused the Podemos MEP of being a "genocidal maniac." She responded by calling on "decent people" to "replace" the billionaire – who has appeared in the Epstein files– so that she stops “raping” and “killing.” However, it all began with statements by the left-wing leader in which she defended the extraordinary regularization of migrants in Spain.

This week, the Council of Ministers approved the processing of an extraordinary regularization program that could benefit more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers. While this decision is exceptional in the current European context, it is not in Spain: it will be the tenth extraordinary regularization program, following the three under Felipe González, the five under José María Aznar, and the last one (in 2005) under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Since then, the residency permit based on long-term residence has allowed for the annual regularization of a significant number of people.

Santiago Abascal was the first to react with a tweet to the announcement of the agreement to regularize half a million undocumented immigrants. "500,000 illegals! The tyrant Sánchez hates the Spanish people. He wants to replace them. That's why he intends to promote a pull factor by decree, to accelerate the invasion. We must stop him. Repatriations, deportations, and re-emigration." From that moment on, Abascal and the entire party took to social media to lead the opposition to the measure, facing a hesitant People's Party (PP) with little credibility on this issue, given that José María Aznar had carried out two mass regularizations. Abascal, who is currently immersed in the Aragon campaign, quickly adapted his message. While until that day the main slogan was "Corruption kills," in reference to the Adamuz accident, on Tuesday he added the coda, "And the invasion, too."

The Council of Ministers has approved the reform of the immigration regulations, which will allow immigrants living and working in Spain without legal status to regularize their immigration status. This is good news, not only for the dignity of those directly affected, but also for society as a whole. According to recent estimates of FuncasMore than 800,000 immigrants who are already part of the country's economic and social fabric could benefit from this policy.

I remember that "Papers for Everyone" campaign from way back in 2001 very well, when undocumented immigrants locked themselves inside churches in Barcelona demanding those "papers" that allow you to work. And I remember it well because I did a gonzo report for the newspaper. The Countrywhere I was writing at the time. My feeling at the time had been the same as when I read in our diary that The Spanish government will regularize half a million immigrants Undocumented. Of that half a million, more than 150,000 live in Catalonia. On the one hand, there's a clear feeling that those who live here should be able to work and pay taxes here. I hope there will be another 150,000 self-employed workers, yes, because they will help pay for schools and hospitals and even train lines. And I say self-employed Not because I wish them any harm, but because I like to imagine that, among those claiming this coveted document, there are not only men who repair cell phones (which we also wish them, at least I do) but also men who write, or act, or teach dance.

Although the office doesn't open until nine in the morning, three hours earlier there was already a long line of people waiting. "I've been waiting for four hours, but I'll stay as long as necessary," Asad explains. He's queuing outside the Pakistani consulate in Barcelona, ​​on Sarrià Avenue, to get a single document: the authorization he needs to send to his mother, who still lives in Pakistan, so that she can send him the certificate proving his status. Asad has no criminal record. This is one of the requirements for eligibility. to the regularization of half a million undocumented immigrants agreed by the Spanish government just two days agoOf the half a million, it is estimated that more than 150,000 reside in Catalonia.