Spain proposes tougher immigration laws

Spain has proposed changes to immigration laws to limit an influx of foreigners as it faces recession and the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. The measures, which must be approved by parliament, would allow police to hold illegal immigrants for up to 60 days pending deportation and make it harder for foreigners to bring relatives over to live in Spain. "In our difficult current situation, decisions have been taken to adapt immigration levels to the labor market," Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho told a press conference following a cabinet meeting on the reform. Nearly 5 million immigrants have settled in Spain during the past decade, more than in any other European country, drawn by a construction boom that has collapsed in the global financial crisis. With unemployment expected to end 2008 at 13% and rise as high as 20% by 2010, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government says there are not enough jobs for immigrants who make up 11% of the population. The proposed reforms would impose higher fines for employers recruiting foreigners who do not have proper legal papers, but expand civil rights for foreigners already living legally or illegally in Spain. Prior to his re-election in 2008, Zapatero heaped praise on immigrants and said they were responsible for half rapid economic growth that has reduced unemployment among Spaniards. But, now the government has started a campaign featuring posters of an immigrant and the caption "Have you thought of going back?". Immigrants are finding it harder to secure jobs as layoffs force Spaniards to seek lower paid work previously done by foreigners, such as fruit picking, construction and waiting on tables. The government has offered among other incentives to pay jobless immigrants unemployment benefit in their home countries and part of the cost of their journey home. Unemployment is rising three times faster among immigrants than Spaniards and the government is wary of unrest after clashes between police and African migrants turned away from 2008's olive harvest in Andalucia.