Members and supporters of March and March, a national anti-immigrant movement with its roots in KwaZulu-Natal, will be marching to the Union Buildings and the Gauteng legislature on Tuesday, April 28, to demand the deportation of undocumented migrants in SA.
Over the past few months, the organisation has staged numerous protests calling for the arrest and prosecution of undocumented migrants across the country, arguing that they are a burden to our basic services and public infrastructure.
While the violence that has characterised these protests and the violation of the constitution that happens when they are denied basic services such as healthcare should be condemned, the argument that is being made is not entirely wrong. The solution, however, is misguided. And we can look to Spain for guidance on the question.
Earlier this month, the government of Spain approved plans to give legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants, allowing them to be integrated formally into the workforce. The plan will offer a one-year renewable residence permit to undocumented migrants.
For them to be eligible for the permit, the applicants must demonstrate that they have already spent five months living in Spain, and that they have no criminal record.
Addressing the people of Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that the mass legalisation was aimed at acknowledging “the reality of nearly half a million people who already form part of our everyday lives”.
This decision by Sánchez’s administration, which is being opposed by right-wing parties in Spain, is both politically and economically sound.
Spain, like most of Europe and other parts of the developed world, is faced with a demographic crisis characterised by an ageing population. More than 20% of the country’s 48-million citizens are aged 65 or older. The number of people aged 85 and over has increased by 35% in the last decade.
According to National Statistics Institute (INE) projections, by 2041, more than 14.5-million people, or 27.9% of the population, are expected to be aged 65 or over. This poses serious challenges for a country with one of the world’s longest life expectancies.
Life expectancy in Spain has reached an average of 83.4 years. The country faces a shift from a traditional pyramid to a rectangle, with more people over 65 than under 15.
This trend strains public resources and increases healthcare demands, which can only be addressed by having a younger and greater workforce that will contribute to taxes which will fund welfare and other public services.
The majority of immigrants in Spain are from Latin America, a region that is still grappling with the impact of Spain’s colonial rule.
Thus, the recognition that Spain’s colonial history is one of the causes of the underdevelopment of Latin American countries and that the country thus needs to either pay reparations or aid in the development of these countries (which is aided by remittances that migrants send to their home countries) is morally just.
Numerous other countries, recognising that migration is a feature of human existence that cannot be stopped, are implementing reasonable ways of dealing with it.
The fact is we cannot deport them all – we simply do not have the resources necessary to do so.
— Malaika Mahlatsi
While some leave a lot to be desired, countries like Spain are showing us that there is value in seeing migrants not as a threat, but as a potential benefit to our economies and the diversity of our nations.
SA needs to rethink its approach to undocumented migrants. The fact is we cannot deport them all – we simply do not have the resources necessary to do so.
The answer may lie in regularising them so that they may contribute to the economy in more sustainable ways, which would in turn address the question of the burden on public services and infrastructure that organisations like March and March are protesting about.
It would also be easier to trace migrants if they were documented, which would address the common argument that they commit crimes and cannot be apprehended due to being untraceable in the system.
We need to start thinking about reasonable and just solutions to the migration question because the way we’re approaching it is unsustainable.
Sowetan
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