By Horaci Garcia and Nacho Doce
NIJAR, Spain, May 22 (Reuters) – After seven years living as an undocumented migrant in Spain, doing day jobs and staying in shanty towns, Moroccan Abdelmoujoud Erra hopes a mass amnesty launched by the leftist government may finally turn his fortunes around.
“Without documents you work for five euros ($5.80) an hour. With documents, you work legally, with more money – maybe seven or eight euros an hour,” said Erra, 27, in the southern Spanish province of Almería. Undocumented migrants there gather at roundabouts hoping to be hired to pick fruit and vegetables in Europe’s largest concentration of greenhouses.
He is among many undocumented migrants applying for the amnesty, which could benefit hundreds of thousands and will run through June.
The policy is a pillar of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration for its ageing population, even as other countries tighten borders.
But it has enraged right-wing opposition parties. The People’s Party says it will saturate public services, while Vox has accused the government of seeking to replace Spanish natives.
If he had had legal status, Erra said, he would have been able to pursue his dream of building a professional boxing career and to visit his family in Morocco. “I’ve lost a lot of time. If only I had had papers earlier”, he said.
Last month, a fire tore through the informal settlement where he lived, though his documents for the amnesty were saved because he had stored them at the local Red Cross office.
With more than 30,000 hectares (74,100 acres) of intensive crops under plastic, Almería is the European Union’s main winter supplier of vegetables, including tomatoes and cucumbers, exporting produce worth 3 billion euros annually and employing around 80,000 people, according to unions and authorities.
WORKER SHORTAGE
While the ultimate impact on production and labour costs is still unclear, agriculture business groups and unions say they hope it will help address a shortage of workers.
Andrés Góngora, coordinator of farmers’ union COAG, acknowledged that the sector employs some migrants in the country illegally and said the amnesty would provide stability. Having a larger workforce might allow for the planting of more labour-intensive crops and foster social cohesion, he added.
Charities have long criticised conditions around Almería, estimating around 10,000 migrants live in substandard housing and that at least 70% of the workforce is undocumented.
Spain’s 50 million-strong population has swelled in recent years, fuelled by migration. Roughly 840,000 undocumented migrants are currently in the workforce, think tank Funcas estimates.
Among them is 35-year-old Ghanaian Michael Aymaga, who lives in a migrant settlement outside the town of Nijar, with intermittent power supply and limited water access.
He is overjoyed by the amnesty and says he wants to contribute to his new home. “I would definitely use all my skills and everything I have to help Spain (become) a better Spain,” he said.
($1 = 0.8604 euros)
(Reporting by Horaci Garcia and Nacho DoceWriting by Joan Faus, editing by Aislinn Laing, Andrew Cawthorne and Rosalba O’Brien)
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