The mass amnesty of over 1.2 million illegal migrants set in motion by Spain’s socialist government will “collapse” the issue of foreign national identity cards, police officers warned on Wednesday.
Unnamed police officers that warned of the situation to local outlets reportedly affirmed that the nation is ill-prepared to withstand the sheer workload of issuing that many cards over the next months — with the added problem of “mafias” reselling appointment slots for sums of money.
The Spanish government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is currently in the processing phase of the over 1.2 million applications for mass amnesty filed by illegal migrants in Spain before the submission window closed on June 30.
Initially, the Spanish government claimed that “half a million” illegal migrants would end up receiving amnesty — attaining residence and work permits, as well as other benefits. In reality, the final amount of filed applications more than doubled the initial estimates presented by the nation’s socialist authorities earlier this year.
Individuals who legally reside, work, or study in Spain are issued a Foreigner Identity Card (TIE), a document that certifies the person’s legal stay within Spanish territory an identifies.
As part of the mass amnesty process, its beneficiaries will each end up receiving a TIE to identify them as “legal” residents in Spain. As per the Spanish government’s own guidelines for the mass amnesty plan, authorities have “up to three months” since the application window closed to process all of the filed applications.
The sheer amount of over 1.2 million applications filed has led to concerns over the “collapse” of the entire TIE issuing logistics.
Unnamed Spanish police sources expressed their concerns on the developing situation to the newspaper El Mundo on Wednesday — warning that issuing a TIE in Spain will become an “agonizing” process, not just for all applicants, but for all officers involved in the process as well.
The sources justified their concerns by pointing towards a lack of human and technical resources among migration officials. Spain’s National Police will reportedly be affected to, as the institution is involved in the issuing of TIEs to foreigners.
Most concerningly, the police sources warned to El Mundo that “mafias” further complicate the already complex equation. Per the sources, unscrupulous IT engineers are booking up TIE appointments, “reselling” them for anywhere between 100 to 2,000 euros.
El Mundo, citing the police sources, explained that once the payment is received, the engineers introduce the migrant’s data in the system and “formalize” the reserved appointment, making it seem as if it was normally booked all along.
“This practice contributes to and exacerbates the collapse of the [TIE] system,” the sources explained.
Over the past weeks, other Spanish police have also fiercely warned that the mass amnesty of roughly 1.2 million migrants will ultimately lead to Spain having to take as many as five million more migrants over the next years — as migrant, once they attain “legal” status, can then avail themselves of family reunification and other provisions to “legally” bring their relatives into the country.
The police sources told El Mundo, that they fear that criminal networks will exploit the “lucrative opportunity” presented by the amnesty and subsequent reunification provisions.
“There could be instances where individuals from abroad pay people with legal status to let them pose as family members, such as children or parents. In other words, paying for documents and certificates,” the sources said.
“Such cases are already being seen — sometimes even involving brought-in witnesses — but they are quickly detected because the number of applicants is currently manageable,” the sources continued.