Legislación y política migratoria en España. Radicalizando la precariedad social

Abstract

This article reviews the construction of migration policies in Spain while analyzing its role as an instrument in the production of exclusion and precariousness. The changes in migration legislation-far from decreasing the number of undocumented migrants-have produced labor segmentation and social stratification. The official determination of presenting illegal immigrants as part of a vicious circIe and legal ones as part of a virtuous circIe opens the door to the criminalization of migration movements. This situation produces a radicalization in the vulnerability of certain labor forces. As opposed to the culturalist perspective, which explains inequality as the result of pre-existent cultural differences, the following analysis suggests that the discriminatory and marginalized situations suffered by part of non-communitarian immigrant population in Spain are systematically produced and reinforced by various political and legal practices.