Illegal immigrants who suffer abuse will not be deported

THE Ministry of Work and Immigration has decided that women who are illegally residing in Spain who are victims of abuse will not be deported. This is the main novelty of the Foreigners’ Law, which has been updated by the Ministry of Work and Immigration, and is only valid in cases where the women have reported their attackers, and only once a sentence has been passed in the case.

Currently, illegal immigrants who report abuse from their partners have a deportation request issued against them, although it is suspended until a judge has ruled in the case.

The plan now is for the file not to be opened because this dissuaded many illegal immigrants from reporting their attackers.

In Andalucia, 1,329 immigrant women obtained restraining orders against their former partners in 2010, 392 of them in Almeria. A further 765 have been granted protection, 177 of them in Andalucia.

Only Malaga has higher rates than Almeria in Andalucia, with 394 restraining orders and 239 protection orders, while in the rest of Andalucia, there are less than 100 of each.

The figures in Almeria are worse than in many other provinces in Spain.

Despite this, there is only one Gender Violence Court.