Good news, conference information, and pictures from Paris

First, I am happy to share some good news: I received an extension for my grant! I will be staying in Madrid (and blogging about my experiences) until the end of July.

Second, Casa de América has posted information about our event on their website. Check out the link here.

Finally, I have posted the photos of my trip to Paris online. They can be seen here and here. I took the trip to interview one of the foremost human/immigrant rights experts in Spain who is now working in Paris. The interview has proven to be extremely influential in the development of my paper since it has given me an excellent political context to situate the influence of these rulings on the development of the rights of undocumented immigrants since 2007.

Although the reform of the LO 8/2000 will respect the Tribunal Constitucional's rulings, the expert explain the new law does not mark a new direction in the regulation of the rights of immigrants that emphasizes integration and accomodation of Spain's newest residents. Instead, the government will actually take a harder stance on their rights (e.g prolonging the period of internment for undocumented immigrants detained by the police) in an effort to public support that has weaked over the last year due to the president's handling of the crisis. The law will also reflect the EU's recent directives on immigration, which have grown increasingly more conservative as representatives of the EU's parliament and center right heads of state in the organization's Council have pushed for harder, punitive measures to tackle undocumented immigration instead of promoting new means to integrate immigrants.

As a result, the new law demonstrates that the Spanish government will not respect the essence of the sentences of the Tribunal Constitutional that expanded the rights of undocumented immigrants. Rather, it will limit its influence to socio-laboral rights, the right to education, and free legal assistance while it takes on a harder, more punitive position on other rights of undocumented immigrants. The future of the rights of undocumented immigrants, then, looks ambiguous as the Spanish Government takes a step forward and a step back on the issue.