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Migration Patterns in Spain

Natalie Gordon

December, 2016

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Migration has always been a part of Europe. In recent years, there has been backlash

from many of the counties that make up the European Union (EU) as to where refugees and

immigrants should go. Although this is nothing new to the European continent, it is getting a lot

of press, especially in countries like France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Greece. One country

that has been left out however is Spain. Spain is not only hurting from the refugee crisis and

mass influx of illegal immigrants from Africa and the middle east, but is also hurting for a

massive emigration of both its own citizens and those who have come as migrant workers in the

past.

Spain has a long history of migration as it was one of the first inhabited places on the

European continent (Alfonso). The biggest migration to Spain was that of the Islamic religion

which brought Arabs and Berbers from Africa and the middle east into Europe. But more

recently, as in the past century, there has been a massive amount of movement from without to

within Spain, but also within the country itself. During the Franco regime, there was a mass

movement of people to the cities and away from the rural parts. This lead people to go from the

south of Spain to the north, in places like Barcelona and the Basque Country. This created a

shortage of workers in rural areas which then created the market for migrant workers to come

and fill those empty spaces at the start of the democracy in the late 70’s and early 80’s (Reese

85). Between 2000and 2005, there has been a 194.2 % increase in migrants with a total number

of about 3.1 million migrants. This raised the percentage of the population of migrants from 2%

to 12% (Boswell 4). In recent years, the proximity to Africa has also made Spain the hot choice

for where an immigrant should try to get to in the EU. But with economic factors that have been

hurting the country in recent years, migration is becoming a hot topic in Spain, both in terms of

emigration and immigration.

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Going more into depth about migrant workers, they have always been a big part of the

Spanish economy since the start of their democracy. These workers came from Latin America

and Eastern Europe, mainly Romania. These migrants started to come in the 1980’s, but even

continued to come in the 90’s and even in more recent years despite their economic hardships

(Reese 85). From Latin America, the main three contributing countries to the migration

population are Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. From Eastern Europe, the main contributor is

Romania. Today, Romanian migrants have the highest number of immigrants and emigrants

from Spain. These migrants filled the jobs that no Spaniard wanted as well as the rural farming

jobs that were left open from the movement of Spaniards from the country to the city. Despite

there being little backlash and Xenophobia in the 1990’s, today, there are mixed feeling in Spain

about immigrants due to the influence of the rest of Europe as well as their extreme economic

hardships (Buck).

Since 2008, Spain has been going through an intense economic crisis that doesn’t seem to

be letting up. This is causing problems for migrants who left their home countries to escape

economic hardships. This has led to many migrants leaving. Although Spain has 13.72% of all

non EU nationals and is the fourth highest giver of visas, the exit of the migrants can still cause a

lot of problems (Eurostat, Immigration in the EU). Despite these workers leaving, there has been

numerous things being done in the government to try and keep the foreigners in the country.

Although the number of Blue Cards has gone down from 461 to 313, Spain is still the second

largest giver of the temporary residence cards which shows their need for these people to stay

(Eurostat, The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures). In 2004, the then

Spanish government tried to pass law that would greater include immigrants into the society and

give them rights they had before. This proposed act, called the Rights and Freedoms of

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Foreigners in Spain and their Social Integration, was rejected in the end as it was deemed to

liberal to be in line with EU standards (Ortega Perez). Along with this, Spain has also tried to

increase their relations with Latin American and South American countries through the

Iberoamerican Conferences. In 2006, an agreement between Spain and Colombia was made in

order to facilitate circular migration. This type of migration helps both countries and their

economies even today (“Iberoamerican Conference Focuses on Migration and Development”,

“Enhancing Development in Colombia through Temporary and Circular Labour Migration to

Spain”). Hopefully Spain will be able to keep its ever more important migrant population from

leaving with things such as the measures above, but with Spaniards themselves leaving, this

seems like it will be a problem.

In 2012, 4 years after the housing crisis, the amount of people emigrating was 140,000

more than the number of people immigrating into Spain (Buck). The movement of people,

especially the young of Spain, has since then cause the number of people in Spain to be

decreasing by 200,00 each year (“A Great Migration”). These Spaniard have gone looking for

work elsewhere as Spain still has an overall unemployment rate of above 20%, and for those

under 30, 50%. Approximately million youth emigrated from Spain in 2014 (Buck). This is

causing many to ask if they are losing the talent of Spain. Many of them are flocking to places

such as Germany, the UK, and even South and Latin America (Buck) Spain is at a steady

decrease in its population, approximately 0.16% of its population each year (INE). As it seems as

though Spain will not return to pre-crisis economy until 2027, this decrease will continue for a

while, drastically changing the population and stunting the economic growth of Spain for the

next several years (Mount). Another thing that is expected to stunt growth of the economy and

cause social problems in Spain is the recent Brexit. Many British retirees move to Spain where

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they are able to live in the sun and still receive their pensions. This will change with the Brexit

and they will no longer be able to be players in the economy. Also the people of Gibraltar will

suffer from the loss of ease to get things from mainland Spain as they will now have to through

the hassle of customs (Freyer).

Despite all of these problems with emigration, Spain is still facing a lot of problems that

have to due with the refugee crisis that is hitting all of Europe hard. From 2012 to 2014, the

amount of asylum applications has risen from 2,565 to 5,615 and the amount of resettlements

from 80 to 125 (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures).

Although these numbers seem small, especially when compared to the number of Italy and

Germany, Spain still has to deal with millions of refugees and illegal immigrants each year. This

is due to the fact that Spain is used as a hop state or a port to elsewhere. Once the immigrants and

refugees enter Spain, they have reached the EU and Schengen territory, meaning they can travel

freely. Most of the immigrants are looking to go more inland to Germany, and before Brexit, the

UK (Frayer).

In 2014, illegal immigration surged up 70% more than the previous year. These

immigrants are using the easy access point from Africa to enter Spain (Badcock). These points

include the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Canary Islands, and the point of Spain which

is only 9 km from the coast of Morocco through the strait of Gibraltar (Feldman 81-82,

Badcock). The immigrants are coming from Syria, Sub-Saharan and West Africa, and Morocco.

Since 2013, over 6 million immigrants have entered the EU through these entry points in Spain

(Badcock). These mass numbers pose a great problem for the Spanish government, border

control, and those organizations that try to help these homeless immigrants. In an effort to hold

off these mass numbers of people, Spain has decided to pass controversial laws and build 40 foot

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fences around its cities in Morocco and on the edge of the Canary Islands (Carling). This has

helped the number of immigrants entering Spain decrease into Ceuta and Melilla by 26% as well

as to the Canary Islands by 13%. Despite these decreases, many are still trying to get into Spain

by sea, which has gone up by 80% (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary,

Facts and Figures).

When those who do succeed at getting across the border, the Spanish government is still

faced with many more obstacles, as are the immigrants. Many of the immigrants do not have

paperwork or refuse to speak as to evade the possibility of being sent back to their country of

origin (Frayer). Others cannot be sent back due to the lack of treatise Spain has with other

countries and so they are then stuck to camping out in overcrowded camps and shelters (Daley).

Another way many immigrants try to find a way to stay in the country is to have a baby there, as

in Spain, babies born in their borders have residency rights (Frayer). All of these tactics

immigrants take to stay along with the mass numbers that try to enter in a single day (sometimes

up to 1,600), has made the government take drastic actions which have been criticized by the EU

(Frayer).

In 2015, a law was passed, called the Aliens Act, where by border guards could send

back immigrants without due process (Ortega Perez). This caused 16 guards to take actions

against immigrants trying to enter Spain, which lead to their deaths (Frayer). Although criticized

by the EU for the law being against their human rights laws, this was obvious call for help

(“Spain: Legislation and practice on immigration and asylum must adhere to human rights

standards”). Although Spain is the 5th highest AMIF spender, they are still not getting enough

help from the EU (Eurostat. The European Agenda on Migration Glossary, Facts and Figures).

Morocco has started to help by trying to stop immigrants from crossing and imprisoning them in

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their country, but this is not a solution to the problem (Daley). With their economic crisis, spain

cannot face this burden alone.

Spain has faced and will continue to face many problems with migration. The future right

now is not looking so good due to the massive amounts of people, especially the youth, exiting

the country along with the sky high unemployment rates. But, maybe the refugee crisis can be a

solution to this problem of emigration. Not only could these refugees stop the population from

shrinking, but also add to helping with the jobs that those migrant workers from South America

have left due to the crisis. The refugees are giving Spain a second chance to build up their

country again, as well as be the help that Europe needs. They only need a bit more guidance from

outside sources to really get the situation under control.

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Works Cited

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