Sara, an undocumented immigrant: "The PP and Vox members of parliament have never experienced loneliness, sadness, or scarcity."

PalmNearlyabout a hundred immigrants They attended the parliamentary debate on Tuesday regarding the extraordinary regularization proposed by the Spanish government. Sara, a 59-year-old Colombian woman, works as an undocumented cleaner. "People don't want to give me a contract," she explains: "You can't force them." She finds the interventions of PP parliamentarian Cristina Gil and Vox parliamentarian Manuela Cañadas "very unpleasant": the former rejected the regularization, which she herself would apply for, because it would create a "pull factor," and the latter directly linked immigration to crime, "rapes and murders." "They've never experienced loneliness, sadness, scarcity, being far from your family," she laments: "They lack empathy."

Like the other immigrants who attended the plenary session—Gil greeted them before his speech—Sara came because she received an invitation from the PSIB (Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands). "It's good to be informed firsthand, that's why I like being here and learning about the issue," she says. She considers the extraordinary regularization of immigrants "a great opportunity": "For good people, that handful of workers who dream of having a family or opening a business, it's very important," she says, gesturing to the rest of her companions. "Being undocumented is very hard," she admits.

She has been in Spain since March 14, 2020, the day before the airports closed due to the pandemic. "My documents expired, and I didn't have another job offer, so I became undocumented," she explains. She experiences this in many everyday moments. "My health insurance card has a small chip in the barcode," she explains. "I went to the health center to get a duplicate, and the woman who helped me wouldn't let me because my NIE (Foreigner Identification Number) had expired." The same thing happened when she tried to get her driver's license. "I took driving lessons, and when I was ready, they told me I couldn't take the test because I didn't have the paperwork," she says. "It's so frustrating. I spent over a year studying so I wouldn't forget the material, but in the end, I just blurted it out." If she gets the paperwork back, the first thing she'll do is go back to driving school.

"They're minimal, basic things, and they deny them to you," she laments. "Imagine how hard it is to find a rental or a decent job." She shakes her head after hearing Cañadas link immigration, and especially those arriving in boats, to an "increase in rapes of children and women," "murders in the name of a God that isn't ours," as well as talking about the "overburdening of basic health services and the imposition of cultures incompatible with respect." "This isn't true; these are their selfish policies, typical of people who are at a different economic level and are native-born," she continues.

"Even if someone has committed a crime, it doesn't make them anyone to generalize," insists Sara, who clarifies that she doesn't belong to any political party. "Is it fair to let a child climb onto a sinking boat and leave them alone? Is that right?" she asks. "You can't speak like this; you must be more sensitive when addressing such topics." She advises Vox to "think for a minute about what would happen to them if this happened to them." Similarly, she denies that immigrants receive "so much aid": "It's very difficult to get approved for a minimum living income." In her own case, she says, "I've never gone hungry," although in 2023 she couldn't work due to health problems. She works as a cleaner for "three or four hours a day." From the halls of Parliament, she calls for "better policies and more opportunities": "Not everyone comes here to cause harm, but for an opportunity."