Abstract

SANTI PEREYRA, Silvana. About «Illegal Immigrants», «Irregular Immigrants» and «Sin Papeles»: The Struggle for Documentary Regularization of Non-EU Immigrants in Spain. Estud. Polit. [online]. 2018, n.53, pp.192-212. ISSN 0121-5167.  https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.espo.n53a09.

This article tries to explain the context in which the non-European immigrants’ rights movement emerged in Spain between the years 2000 and 2002. The study aims to understand (1) how immigration laws affected the development of the protests; (2) the impact of the administrative status of immigrants on protest’s practices and goals. Four research questions guide the work: Which events triggered the protests of immigrants in Spain in the period under consideration? What did the protesters claim and demand? In which way and by what means did protesters attempt to influence the immigration policy? How did the «irregular/illegal» categories, used by the Aznar government to define demonstrators, affect the development of the protests? To address these issues, the authors employ an analysis of the Spanish Immigration Law and political speeches about immigration. The article concludes that this struggle has been triggered by the administrative situation of the immigrants, which is key insofar as it reveals the structural logic of precariousness that underlies it.

Keywords : Migration Policy; International Migration; Immigration; Social Movements; Spain.

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