SPAIN: Immigration and policing
01 January 1991
SPAIN: Immigration and policing
artdoc August=1994
Immigration raids for illegal Chinese workers
Police in Madrid have carried out a series of immigration raids
aimed at illegal Chinese workers. On 16 March, 140 officers of
the Civil Guard and the Madrid police, accompanied by drivers,
sniffer dogs and mechanics to force open doors, were deployed to
raid three clothes factories, arresting 60 illegal Chinese
workers. Homes and Chinese restaurants were also raided. The
following week, five dressmaking factories were raided and 47
Chinese arrested, 44 of whom were illegal workers and three the
heads of the illegal network. Twenty-seven face charges, but
twenty have been released but are still threatened with expulsion
orders. Ninety per cent of those arrested come from the very poor
province of Zheijang, in eastern China.
Brutal exploitation
After the first raid, police sources described conditions in the
dressmaking factories where men received 8 pesetas for stitching
a zip and worked from 10am until 2am , seeing no light. The
factories were also used as dormitories, with a hole in the floor
used as a toilet. The illegal Chinese were forced to work in such
conditions in order to pay for residence permits, sold for half-
a-million pesetas by the mafia. During the second raid,
frightened Chinese women emerged from a cellar full of sewing
machines, irons and a great quantity of clothing ready for
distribution throughout Spain's luxury shops under expensive
brand names. Suspicions point to a well-known hypermarket being
involved and the ongoing police investigation is meant to trace
the destination of the clothes. Police director Manual Jimenez
said that those employed in the workshops often received no pay
and very little food, were not allowed to leave the premises,
slept on the floor and were constantly threatened to pay their
debts (El Pais 17,26.3.94, El Mudo, 26, 27.3.94).
Investigation into illegal Ecuadorians
One hundred Ecuadorians have been detained by the police between
Madrid and Murcia as police investigate an illegal immigrant
smuggling network which brought 300 Ecuadorians to Spain in the
last year to work in inhuman conditions in the fruit-picking
industry. Police say that the dual citizenship treaty between
Spain and Ecuador, and the fact that no visa is required to come
from Ecuador, is to blame (El Pais 25.3.94).
Spanish consulate in Algeria closes
The Spanish consulate in Oran, Algeria closed after fighting
broke out when 3000 Algerians queued at its doors seeking visas.
The Italian consulate in Oran had already closed and the French
consulate had introduced restrictive new measures. Now the
Spanish government have warned that, with Algeria's economic and
political crisis deepening, an exodus of Algerians toward the
northern Mediterranean should be expected. `We would hope that
the EU countries would share out the immigrants reasonably' said
the minister of the interior, Javier Solana (El Pais 30.3.94).
Racism and fascism
Investigation into Real Madrid Ultrasur
The Anti-Violence Commission, under the supervision of the
Ministry of the Interior, is once again to investigate the
infamous far-Right Ultrasur group at Real Madrid football club
after racist graffiti was sprayed over the walls of the clubØs
ground denouncing the appointment of an Argentinean trainer,
Jorge Valdano.
Real Madrid itself has come under criticism for its handling
of the incident and the widely held belief that the Ultrasur are
tolerated by certain sections within the club. After Valdano was
appointed, rumours of demonstrations abounded, and the Ultrasur
were said to have bought paint to decorate the stadium. Despite
the rumours, nothing was done (El Mundo 29.3.94).
IRR European Race Audit no 9, July 1994. Contact: Liz Fekete
Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS
Tel: 071 837 0041