US deal: Spain takes in 500 Nicaraguans as complaints mount over programme

US deal: 500 Nicaraguans arrive in Spain and the programme runs into its own cracks

The Spanish government has received a new contingent of 500 Central American refugees, mostly Nicaraguans, under agreements signed with the United States and Canada to ease migratory pressure on Washington. They arrive in Valladolid, at the San Viator reception centre run by Accem, and the plan is for them to work at photovoltaic plants in the area. So goes the official story. The problem is that the first group, who came in December 2023, have already told how it went for them.

The precedent does not invite optimism. A group of 80 Nicaraguans arrived a year ago with the promise of training and jobs as installers at a solar park in Villalba de los Alcores. Three months later, it emerged that the plant was only a project. When they finally did work, it was as construction labourers, not installers. And for less than agreed: 17,000 euros a year instead of the promised 19,000, according to testimony gathered.

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Benefits that never arrive and an agreement that is not honoured

The Ministry of Migration committed to covering the first month of housing, the deposit and food during that period. Several programme beneficiaries claim that these subsidies were not granted to many of those who arrived in 2023. "I never received any help from the Ministry, they have forgotten about us," says one of those affected. The gap between what was signed and what was delivered is starting to become a pattern.

There is more. Testimonies speak of workplace harassment and episodes of racism. In one case, after a worker died in a workplace accident, some asked for waterproof boots and thermal lining to work in cold and rain. The response they say they received was that they "asked and demanded too much" and should "use more condoms." They have also been called "exiles" in a derogatory way. These are accusations the Ministry has not publicly confirmed and which this newspaper attributes to those affected themselves.

How does the US agreement to take in refugees work?

The mechanism relies on four Safe Mobility Offices in Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala, devised by the White House and run by UNHCR and the IOM. Asylum seekers request relocation to countries such as Spain, which receives negotiated quotas. NGOs screen out the most vulnerable and verify they do not appear in police databases. The stated goal: to ease pressure on Washington and offer a legal, orderly route.

In practice, the programme depends on someone finding jobs for the new arrivals. That is where the machinery jams. The promised training does not always translate into the promised job, and the agreed salary does not always appear on the payslip. Meanwhile, the new contingent is already in Valladolid and the families are starting from scratch with the same promises on the table.

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The question is not whether Spain can take in 500 people. The question is whether the programme that claims to take them in is designed so they do not end up telling the same story as those before them.