That a decision of Spanish politics sneaks onto the front page of a newspaper like It is not something very common. That a regularization of immigrants does it, even less so. And yet, that is exactly what happened this Tuesday, when the New York newspaper placed the , as the most important news of the publication. But not so much to explain what Spain has done, but to use it as a mirror of the restrictive drift that is gaining ground in other countries, such as in Trump’s America.
The truth is that the position of The New York Times It is already clear from the cover of its website, in which the newspaper presents an eloquent headline: “Spain opens a way to regularize immigrants while other countries toughen their policies.” From that maxim, the story that the American newspaper has constructed maintains that the Spanish initiative is located “against the trend of other countries, which in recent years have become more restrictive with irregular immigration,” in a veiled reference to the White House.
The contrast becomes even more evident when the text travels to the other side of the Atlantic and refers to the United States as a country in which “a violent offensive is being carried out that threatens millions of people with deportation” that has been promoted by the Donald Trump Administration from Washington, marking the step of a punitive trend to which it seems that more and more Western countries are signing up.
Minneapolis demands justice
In Minneapolis, Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy has been noticeable for a few weeks in the streets of the second city in the state of Minnesota, with raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), the presence of federal agents and the feeling that in neighborhoods with a significant immigrant population a kind of Big Brother has been installed that looks for people without a residence permit. With commercial areas where shops must only half-open, many workers have had to change their routines and the streets are much emptier than usual.
The arrest a few days ago of a five-year-old boy, when he entered the house with his. Father has become a symbol of the limits that have been surpassed. The image of the minor, with a blue hat and school backpack, raised a level of tension that had already been building up in the city for some time and that exploded with the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good in two operations by ICE agents. Although the White House has assured that all the details of these incidents will be investigated and there has been a partial withdrawal of troops, the city lives in a state of alert.
Minnesota is not the only state in which there have been problems with operations against irregular immigration. This morning, a person is in critical condition after being shot during an incident with Border Patrol agents in Arivaca, a town near the border with Mexico. Local authorities have already opened an investigation with the FBI to clarify the events, in which no agents have been injured, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
This climate of tension that the United States is going through has begun to provoke a cascade of reactions that goes beyond the street. In recent days, businessmen and cultural figures in the United States have openly questioned the role of ICE. Like ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman, who has warned that it has “gone too far.” Actresses such as Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega have publicly denounced the violence of the operations and on social networks, artists such as Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have joined the criticism, expanding the focus of a crisis that is no longer limited to a single city.
Spain, according to The New York Times
The regularization of immigrants in Spain will allow thousands of people in an irregular situation to request a temporary residence and work permit if they prove that they have lived in the country for a minimum period and have no criminal record. With the admission of the application, they will be able to join the labor market immediately.
The New York Times It also includes the arguments put forward by the Government on the , citing studies that link immigration to economic growth and as a solution to the lack of labor, together with the opinion of economists who consider it unlikely that this measure will generate significant pressure on work or housing, as they are people who already live in the country.
The text of The New York Times does not avoid nuances. It mentions the externalization of migration control to countries such as Morocco or Mauritania and points out that the reception has not been the same for all groups, especially in the case of migrants from Africa. Even so, it places the Spanish decision within a political line different from that currently predominating in other Western countries.
The newspaper also points out that Spain has precedents for far-reaching regularizations since the 1980s, under governments of different types, and that these types of processes are not an exception either in the country or in the European Union as a whole. With this overview, he remembers that the measure has been carried out through a decree, after closing an agreement with Unidas Podemos and also includes criticism from the Popular Party and the extreme right, which have announced judicial appeals against the initiative.
