Robert Still, senator of ERC and only politician of Indian origin in the High camera, has asked the government and embassies to investigate migrant trafficking networks that pass through Spain. After the investigation of this newspaper in a project of the Master of Investigative Journalism, Data and Visualization published this Wednesday, the senator has shown his concern and has said: «I make a specific request to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: that they do a strict investigation against these mafias. The work of private companies that filter visa applications and appointments at embassies must be supervised, because the systems collapse and it is the mafias that they then resell those quotes».
In fact, this same senator has already denounced before the minister Jose Manuel Albares in the Senate that visas and appointments were being sold at the doors of some Spanish embassies abroad and the Foreign Minister himself recognized that this was the case.
The investigation published by EL MUNDO delves into the route that thousands of Indians and Pakistanis take to get to the US, and that it has an obligatory stop in Spain and Portugal, because from the Iberian Peninsula they travel to Mexico and then enter the US illegally. The reason is that mainly from Madrid there are hundreds of direct flights to cancun each year, and that is the preferred route for smugglers to send migrants to America. Fake visas and documents are common on these trips.
“We know that many migrants travel to Europe or the US to seek a better life, but action must be taken against the mafias. For many years I have fought for the Aliens Law change, but neither left nor right governments have modified it. This law says that after three years of stay you can obtain a work and residence permit. But, what can a migrant do those three years? live in hiding?” denounces Masih.
“The Government must work together with all countries so that migrants do not fall into the hands of mafias. The EU should have a common system that applies throughout the territory, so that no one has to lose their lives at sea or on land, as in the tragedy of the ionian sea o la de Melilla”, adds Masih, an expert on migration issues, who also directs solidarity projects. He is founder and president of Indali Foundation, which during the pandemic distributed meals to 40,000 people in need, as part of a food solidarity program. Masih also founded the Interparliamentary Group in Support of Tibet in the Senate, the first of its kind created in a Spanish political institution.