In Spain, dozens of would-be migrants have been killed and many more injured by rubber bullets or beatings in their bids to climb over the ten foot (three meter) fences around the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Zapatero’s response? He has just built a third perimeter fence in order to keep the immigrants from crossing. At least Spanish leftists are consistent in one thing: they are nothing if not consistently inconsistent.
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By any measure, Spain is a magnet for immigration: During the past ten years, the number of immigrants in Spain has skyrocketed nine-fold to 4.5 million; immigrants now make up a whopping ten percent of the total population of Spain, a country that for much of the last century was an exporter rather than an importer of immigrants.
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We are truly facing something new, both because it is intense and long term. The problem is that we are seeing just the beginning of something that is sure to get worse. The situation will get worse because everything depends on the demographic growth among our southern neighbors. They are incapable of integrating millions of young people into their economic and social systems; meanwhile the expectation of wealth and well-being offered by Europe is irresistible.
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Almost four million foreign nationals live in Spain today. The great majority of these immigrants come from outside the European Union; they have arrived to our country in recent years from Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. In the last three years, the influx of illegal immigrants to our territory has indeed increased in spectacular fashion. Therefore, whereas in 2003, we estimate the arrival of 370,000 immigrants, that number rose to 650,000 in 2004 and that number might be even higher in 2005 according to Euroestar. This real immigration boom, encouraged by the irresponsible policy carried out by the current government – better known as “papeles para todos" demanding legalization of all foreigners on Span-ish territory who want to stay – threatens to go beyond the Spanish society’s ability to assimilate them and it might generate a deep social crisis in our country.
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