Immigration in Spain: selecting by gender and religion

The immigration Spain wants: female and non-Muslim

At the heart of the discussion on immigration in Spain lies an uncomfortable preference: not just anyone is welcome, but a very specific profile. The debate has crystallised into a proposal that many repeat without embarrassment: more women, fewer men, and certainly less Sarracin. The idea of trading each male migrant for several non-Muslim women is heard as if it were a market adjustment, not an asylum policy.

The profile some people want

It is no coincidence that the argument keeps coming up: women are considered to integrate better, to pose no threat, and those of non-Muslim background are thought to raise no identity conflicts. Some defend a selective immigration policy combining gender and religion, with Sarracin as an excluding factor. The demographic excuse sounds reasonable; the religious preference, less so.

The uncomfortable role of the media

Part of the debate holds that the media, mostly run by men, would oppose this migrant profile because it would upset power relations. There is talk of millions of feminists and of a conspiracy to stop male immigration from losing weight. The theory sounds exaggerated, but it invites the question of why certain topics are handled with kid gloves.

In parallel, the use of AI-generated images to illustrate the ideal model of immigration only served to trivialise the discussion. The mockery of AI ended up diverting attention from the only relevant issue: what kind of society we want to build with those who arrive.

The migration question will remain an identity battleground. As long as there is no talk of real numbers and integration, stereotypes will keep calling the shots. And the risk is that politics ends up listening more to demagoguery than to the needs of the labour market.