Podem has maintained its opposition to Junts per Catalunya's renewed proposal in the Congress of Deputies to delegate immigration powers to the Generalitat, despite Junts reducing and rewriting its preamble.

The proposal would affect migrants living in Catalonia if passed, by giving the Generalitat responsibilities including processing long-term residence and stay permits, issuing foreigner identity numbers (NIE), managing immigration detention centres and taking a role in expulsion procedures. It would also provide for Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police force, to work with the National Police and Guardia Civil on border controls and security at ports and airports.

“The problem is that they are delegating to Catalonia a law that is racist, the immigration law, the existence of detention centres that are racist prisons, and migration management with a security-based approach.”Ione Belarra, Podem secretary general

Belarra said Podem would negotiate only a delegation of powers based on human rights, requiring a far-reaching rewrite of both the preamble and the legal provisions.

Revised preamble does not change Podem's position

Junts re-registered the bill in Congress after its earlier initiative failed because of Podem's opposition. According to RTVE, the new text is almost identical to the proposal presented a year earlier with PSOE support, except for a shorter preamble written in more technical language.

Junts submitted the latest proposal alone, without PSOE's signature. Its congressional spokesperson, Míriam Nogueras, said PSOE knew the contents of the text and that the transfer remained an outstanding political commitment.

Belarra said she had not yet read the new preamble. She said changing that section alone would not resolve Podem's objections because the party also rejects the substance of the proposed delegation.

Security and detention centres are central objections

Podem objects to what Belarra described as an uncontrolled increase in state security-force personnel in Catalonia under the proposal. She also repeated the party's demand for the closure of immigration detention centres, known as CIEs.

Belarra alleged that racial profiling takes place in Catalonia and elsewhere in Spain, with people stopped in streets or on public transport solely because of their skin colour. The supplied sources report this as her allegation.

  • The bill proposes Generalitat involvement in returns of foreign nationals subject to entry bans.
  • It includes processing long-term residence and stay permits, as well as issuing NIE numbers.
  • It envisages Mossos d'Esquadra working alongside the National Police and Guardia Civil at borders, ports and airports.

Belarra said Junts and PSOE knew Podem's proposed conditions for changing the text. She also said there had been no recent contact with Junts over the re-registered initiative.

“There has been no contact.”Ione Belarra, on talks with Junts

Primary sources: presidencia.bibliotecadigital.gencat.cat, treball.gencat.cat, EAPC,Escola d'Administració Pública de Catalunya. Reported by Ara, Marc Guasch Ferreiro, Martina Alcobendas, Marc Rovira, Vicenç Pagès, Núria Orriols, Núria Rius, Andrea Zamorano, Núria Orriols, Pedro Ruiz Claveria, Patricia Romero, Racó Català, democrata.es, Félix Donate Mazcuñán, Amparo Castelló, Alberto Ortiz, RTVE.es, Nació Digital, Núria Orriols.