Spain has seen a rise in illegal residence registrations.
Municipalities in Castellón, Elche, Burgos, Palma, and Cartagena are jointly verifying registration records to ensure compliance with current laws.
In Cartagena, VOX spokesman Gonzalo Lopez Pretel describes how “[fraudulent residency] registration is used as a tool to regularize [the status of illegal migrants] and capture benefits,” blaming “immigration centers” for incentivising the practice.
In the locality of Castellón, for example, apartments of less than 90 square meters were found to be housing up to 15 residents, with landlords exploiting the situation by subletting rooms.
Antonio Ortolá, councilor for Security and Emergencies, highlighted the relationship of these arrangements to increased crime: “The statistics of the Ministry of the Interior show an increase in sexual crimes and crimes against property, with particular problems among illegal immigrants.”
In Palma de Mallorca, VOX proposes police inspections to detect fraudulent registrations. The party’s spokesman in Palma de Mallorca, Fulgencio Coll, pointed out that “a crime is committed every 17 minutes” in Palma, including sexual assaults, a development stemming from increased illegal migrant population.
Rodil Martínez, third deputy mayor of the locality of Elche, has referred to a “black market of registrations” aimed at accessing social benefits.
In response, VOX will be intensifying efforts to combat residency registration fraud in the municipalities it governs or in which it has an agreement with the governing party.
New measures pushed for by VOX will include home visits and inspections and the establishment of channels for anonymous complaints by neighbors about possible fraud, and immediate sanctions against those who are illegally registered at a given domicile. Inspections should be prioritized for homes whose occupants have undergone frequent census changes, and residences with high occupancy ratios and non-owner registrants.
VOX has also proposed intensifying collaboration between local police forces, the National Police, Civil Guard, and immigration services.
The reality, of course, is that local measures will only alleviate local insecurity.
So long as the national government actively incentivizes illegal immigration, fraud and associated crime will continue to rise.
