Vox’s idea of Spain as a “uniform” country does not correspond to its “mestizaje”, which according to the Avanza Foundation, the PSOE’s laboratory of ideas, is “one of the deepest traits of the Spanish identity”. While the PP and Vox link irregular immigration to insecurity and limit their proposals to border control and the expulsion of foreign criminals, the think tank chaired by Manuel Escudero, warns against the “ideological contamination” of Santiago Abascal’s party compared to that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and addresses the debate on immigration from another perspective: the “integration” of the 9.6 million immigrants settled in Spain, of which seven million have no nationality, with the priority that their descendants, “who are already fully national, feel fully integrated like any other citizen”.
“The incorrect use of terms such as second OR third generation “It amplifies their exclusion and perpetuates the idea that the fact of migration, and therefore the condition of foreigners, remains in place, even when they are born and raised in Europe,” the report warns. Immigration integration: a pending responsibility, created by Mohammed Azahaf, migration expert, and Escudero. “Fighting discrimination requires a change in attitudes, the exercise of leadership and the use of inclusive language. Labels must be avoided, people no longer tolerate being eternal migrants and want to be accepted as part of society like any other citizen,” the study adds. The PP has turned its back on the Church’s claim to promote a popular legislative initiative, which it initially supported, to regularize half a million foreigners. Socialists support it “because it is based on the fundamental fact that these are immigrants who already work and bring value to society.”
The PSOE is ready to fight a “long-term cultural battle” with Vox for its “vision of Spanishness”, which makes its rejection of immigration and asylum policies one of the pillars of the ultra-education ideology, which has managed to make the PP take over part of its doctrine in an attempt to curb the rise of the far right in the polls, with proposals such as the “point visa” to restrict access to permanent residence permits for immigrants. “Although until now the integration of immigrants was not a controversial issue in Spain, Vox has moved on to directly attack this reality,” underlines the Avanza Foundation.
Abascal’s party defended the deportation of eight million immigrants and their children in July. “It will be a complex process, but we have the right to survive as a people,” said Congresswoman Rocío de Meer. A few weeks later the Torre Pacheco riots (Murcia) occurred, where far-right groups tried to “hunt down immigrants”. “For that brutal slogan, it was the same that those potential enemies were Spaniards, children of migrants who settled in the municipality for life, Spaniards like their potential attackers”, underline the authors of the study. And they add: “We cannot ask them to behave like full members – Spaniards, Europeans – if, at the same time, they are constantly reminded that they and their families are not.”
A few days later, the “direct attack on religious freedom” occurred in Jumilla, still in the same autonomous community, where the PP and Vox approved an amendment against collective prayer at the end of Ramadan and the Feast of the Lamb, the two great Muslim holidays, in municipal structures. “Secularism must be made compatible with respect for religious freedom. It is necessary to update religious agreements and guarantee fundamental rights, such as access to cemeteries, to avoid discrimination”, proposes Avanza, underlining that the free exercise of religion and its rites, or that of Muslim cemeteries, “which barely exist on Spanish territory”, must be urgently addressed and facilitated by the municipalities competent in the matter. “The issue of cemeteries is worrying, because it cannot be that people are discriminated against even in death,” he concludes.
Immigrants “do not force” Spaniards out of their jobs and are not responsible for rising crime, the socialist think tank insists. However, Vox conditions the replacement of Carlos Mazón at the Valencian Generalitat on the PP’s acceptance of his demands on immigration and against green policies. “We know from experiences in other countries in the field of labor and security that these perceptions are difficult to eradicate because far-right political parties will continue to fight for these perceptions to exist and take root in important sectors of the population, and because the use of hoaxes spread through social networks will strengthen these perceptions. This leads us to conclude that one of the most important tasks in stopping disinformation in our country must focus on hoaxes regarding immigration,” the report notes. In 2021, 2.5 million people born in Spain had at least one foreign parent, or 6.5% of the population, although this percentage exceeded 30% among children under three years old, “giving a glimpse into the future importance of the descendants of immigrants”.
One of Azahaf and Escudero’s recommendations is that institutions reflect social diversity “to promote inclusion, combat stereotypes and ensure equal opportunities.” 20% of Spain’s nearly 50 million inhabitants are of foreign origin, but the Congress has only a handful of deputies of immigrant origin, representing just 2% of the Chamber, the authors regret.
