Mass legalization

last updated 8 January 2015

Madrid

Spain this week began giving visas to more than 1 million illegal immigrants, raising protests from other E.U. countries. For the next three months, any immigrant with a job who has lived in Spain since August can get a one-year work permit. Spanish officials said the amnesty was necessary because an enormous army of illegals, mostly from Morocco and Latin America, were working under the table and paying no taxes. But other European governments said rewarding illegal immigration undermined European security. “This legalization process will have consequences for the rest of Europe,” said German Interior Minister Otto Schily, “because immigrants will then be able to move on freely to France and Germany.”