A year after the entry into force of the new law on the status of immigrants in Spain, various non-governmental organizations are criticizing its application. The denunciations of the NGOs concern in particular the entry quota decided by the Spanish government, which this year amounts to 10,884 jobs of indeterminate duration and 21,195 temporary jobs. Delia Bianco, of the Spanish Commission of aid to refugees considers this quota insufficient: it should – she says – “be determined according to criteria of necessity and solidarity”. The slowness of the bureaucratic procedures is another aspect that has come in for hostile criticism: over the last year only 334,882 of the 615,337 applications for residence permits have been approved. Criticism is also directed at the lack of a policy aimed at the social integration of immigrants. According to one pressure group, “SOS Racism”, the “illegals” are condemned “to marginality in society and exploitation on the workplace”. Another aspect criticized by the NGOs is the repressive and police-enforcement character of the law, focused more on expulsion than on hospitality.
