Pirate's Cove

Of course, it’s all about Orange Man Bad

As Trump shuts out migrants, Spain opens its doors and fuels economic growth

When night falls on the other side of the Atlantic, her 32-year-old cousin, a house cleaner in New York, huddles inside a dim basement apartment, terrified of ICE raids. But in a burgeoning quarter of the Spanish capital, where immigrant-staffed restaurants tempt newcomers with Dominican chicharrones and Venezuelan empanadas, Edith Chimbo sat in the sunlight, musing about the Spanish Dream.

“My cousin told me, ‘Go to Spain,’” said Chimbo, 22, who landed in Madrid earlier this year from the Ecuadorian highlands. Armed with a college degree but no work permit, she’s cleaning houses under the table, just like her cousin in the United States. Yet she is counting on something in the weeks ahead that her kin almost certainly cannot: legalization.

Got that? The WP is excited that migrants are being brought to Spain to clean houses, and will soon be legalized!

As the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants and asylum seekers brings tear gas, protests and raids to the streets of the United States, Spain is positioning itself as a counterpoint: a new land of opportunity.

In this nation of 48 million with long colonial links to the New World, an influx of predominantly Latin American immigrants is helping fuel one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. The Spanish economic transformation is unfolding as the center-left government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has streamlined immigration rules while offering legal status to roughly 700,000 irregular migrants since 2021.

700K? That’s cute.

A landmark bill now being negotiated in the Congress of Deputies could grant legal amnesty to hundreds of thousands more — most of them Spanish-speakers from predominantly Catholic countries in Latin America. Those newcomers often enjoy visa-free travel to Spain, even as Madrid controversially works with Morocco, Mauritania and other countries to block irregular arrivals from the African coast, though Sánchez has also called for tolerance toward migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Africa.

So, they’re bringing in folks who can speak the language, and have at least some commonality with the citizens of Spain for assimilation, while blocking those who do not? Huh.

Spain’s approach is attracting at least some migrants rejected or barred from the United States, including Venezuelans who are now subject to President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

Great. Go there. Biden took in enough, to add on to all those who came in over the past 30 years.

The number of Venezuelans applying for humanitarian protection in Spain surged to 36,923 between January and May, a 36.4 percent spike from the same period last year. With no visa requirements, all Venezuelans need is a valid passport and a plane ticket. In May, the most recent period available, applicants enjoyed a 98.6 percent acceptance rate.

“My hopes and plans for the United States ended overnight,” said Alexander Salazar, 34, a Venezuelan living in Peru who found out in February that his U.S. visa, on humanitarian grounds as an LGBTQ+ migrant, had been suspended. His plan now is to join other family and friends who have already left for Spain.

Yes, smaller nation, but, the US took in vastly more Venezuelans, and checked almost none of them. I’m betting Spain is checking to make sure they are not gang bangers and criminals. Anyhow, bleeding hearts, Orange Man Bad, and

Migrant influx pushing Mass. shelter costs past $1B in FY25: report

Massachusetts taxpayers are on course to spend $1 billion on the state’s emergency shelter program for FY25 with migrant families making up a significant share of those receiving assistance, according to a new report.

Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has already spent $830 million so far in FY25 – which started on July 1 – accommodating more than 4,000 families who have been receiving taxpayer-funded shelter, food, education, legal aid and case management.

The costs work out at about $3,496 per week per family, or around $1,000 per person per week for the program, known as the Emergency Assistance (EA) system.

Biden was taking in people who cannot support themselves, and, really, expect the US government to do so. If the US can mostly shut down the illegal immigration, stop taking in sad sacks from around the world, and boot out the bad people, we could provide temporary work visas to many who want to work, will work for a time, and then leave for a time before returning.