Omar Razzini – Barcelona Office
A suburb of the Spanish city of Bilbao was recently shaken by a controversial case starring a Moroccan immigrant against whom a judicial ruling of eviction was issued after three years of exploiting a rented house without paying rent.
The investigations launched by the Spanish authorities revealed that the lady was receiving monthly financial assistance of nearly 1,500 euros, in addition to food support from charities, but in return, she was renting out rooms inside the house to eight people for 250 euros per person, in addition to selling residency certificates to illegal Moroccan immigrants. It also turned out that her husband lives in France and returns to Spain only every six months to sign attendance papers with the aim of continuing to benefit from social assistance, while the family was making illegal income exceeding 4,000 euros per month. The case took a more complicated turn after it was discovered that the concerned woman stole jewelry from the Spanish homeowner and sold it, which prompted the authorities to implement the eviction order and open a comprehensive investigation that may lead to the recovery of illegal assistance and perhaps prosecution with imprisonment or deportation. The repercussions of the case did not stop there, as it negatively affected the image of the Moroccan community in the region, as a number of owners expressed their fear of renting their homes to Moroccan immigrants, while some right-wing media outlets exploited the incident to fuel their anti-immigrant rhetoric and present it as evidence of "Moroccans abusing the trust given to them by the Spanish state". For its part, Moroccan community activities in Bilbao expressed their deep regret for these isolated behaviors, stressing that the majority of community members live with dignity and contribute positively to Spanish society, calling for not mixing individual behavior with collective responsibility.
