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Article: Labor pains: Spain's migrant-worker problem.(Of Several Minds)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- September 24, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It's difficult being a foreigner in Spain these days. The government labels you illegal three months after you arrive. Residency and work permits are nearly impossible to obtain. You can't legally rent an apartment. And that's if, like me, you're an American. If you're an immigrant from a poor country, life can be much grimmer.
Consider Spain's detention center in the Canary Islands, where thousands of African migrants wash up each year in small wooden boats after braving the Atlantic journey from the Western Sahara. Known as "Guantanamo 2," the former airport-cargo terminal where the migrants are processed has been condemned by Human Rights Watch and Doctors ...