Without Migrants, Spain Says Bars Would Shut and Services Suffer

The opposition parties seeking to shut down Madrid’s pro-migrant policies are jeopardizing key pillars of Spanish life, the Socialist-led government says.

With the birth rate plummeting, public services in Spain have come to rely on immigrant labor, as have the bars and restaurants that are the life blood of many towns and cities, Immigration Minister Elma Saiz said in an interview. Shut off that supply of labor, she said, and the consequences would be dramatic.