in Spain, immigration law discourages foreigners

In Madrid, migrants from sub-Saharan Africa do not look favorably on the new immigration law adopted in France last month.

A month after the vote on the immigration law in Parliament, are migrants passing through Spain giving up coming to France? What are their feelings, what are their reactions? In Madrid, almost a third of the inhabitants are foreigners. And, locally, the immigration law on the other side of the Pyrenees does not have a good press.

The Madrid district of Lavapiés is the symbol of the mixture of cultures and ethnic groups, with nearly 90 nationalities represented. Among them, migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Nelson Mandela Square is their meeting place. Nicolas, a Cameroonian who arrived in Madrid more than 10 years ago, is very critical of French immigration law: “I live in Spain, I have family in France and I have never set foot there. I have no need, since French politics does not convince me. The French system does not not worth it. We don’t need France”he decides.

“It’s a sign of the bad evolution of the times”

Nicolas does not want to hear about France. According to him, in his entourage, no one wants to join France. Some preferred to go elsewhere in Europe, to Germany or Switzerland, while others returned to Africa. It’s Kassoum’s dream: to return home one day. This Ivorian musician has lived in Madrid for a long time. He never wanted to go to France, even though many of his relatives live in Toulouse: “Yes, I have family in France. I have my little brothers and my big brothers who live in France. I have lived here for a long time and, really, I love Spain. This law does not is not good.”

“It’s true that in Spain, often, when you stay here, you have more opportunities to have papers than in France.”

Kassoum managed to obtain Spanish nationality after a long procedure. A stone’s throw from Nelson Mandela Square, Esteban Ibarra, president of the association Movement against intolerance, helps migrants who are immersed in administrative paperwork. A month after the law was passed, he is worried: “The tightening of French law is a bad prospect. This will have repercussions in Spain or in the rest of European countries. Generally speaking, we are losing a humanist culture, which is an enlightened culture, values of the Encyclopedia, France being the mother of all this. This is precisely a sign of the bad evolution of the times“, he concludes.