Over Easter, some twenty Spanish Christian organizations including Catholic Worker Action, Diocesan Caritas of Barcelona, the Union of Religious of Catalonia, Christianity and Justice, and Justice and Peace joined together in denouncing the current immigration policy of the Spanish government. “We express our concern about the difficulties we ascertain in the process of ‘regularization’ begun by the national Government, in conformity with the new law that regulates the condition of being a foreigner”, says the communiqué, which explains that this process requires that the sine qua non “to gain access to regularization is a labour contract”. The reality, the signatories of the document denounce, is that “many workers remain marginalized and, what is even more serious, some employers are sacking their own immigrant workers”. The platform for immigration asks that “other proofs be admitted to support residence permit applications lodged before 8 August 2004, including stamps, bank accounts, medical checks, etc.” and urge “once and for all a more farsighted immigration policy aimed at the social integration of immigrants as citizens”.
