Amnesties? and the Selective Enforcement of Border Control Measures in the Development of Spanish Migration Policies.

From country of emigration, Spain started to become a net receiver of immigrants in the early 1980s. In the absence of a nationally specific tradition on the issue, the first Spanish immigration policies were strongly influenced by the will of its EEC counterparts to restrict potential migratory flows towards their territories. The restrictive discourse underlying the newly established regulatory framework aimed at discouraging potential migrants. Despite the maintenance of a tough discourse, and the strengthening of border control measures (with a considerable increase in human and financial resources devoted to that task), Spain became in 2004 the second largest receiver of migrants in the world (immediately after the US), and the stock of foreign residents gradually increased to represent more than 8% of the Spanish population. The first aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by quasi-cyclical ?amnesties? (1986, 1991, 1996, 2000-01, 2005), and yearly quotas of working permit, in the transformation of Spain into a net receiver of migration flows. In close interaction with regularisations, the accumulation of stocks of undocumented migrants will be linked to the selective enforcement of border control policies, trying to reveal the patterns that explain the nature and composition of migratory flows affecting contemporary Spain. Finally, the paper will try to analyse the inter-relation of Spanish and EU immigration policies, highlighting the changing nature of the process of ?Europeanisation? of national policy making in this sphere, as well as the increasing profile of immigration issues within the Spanish political agenda. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]