“Yes, I have paid 100 euros to register myself and my son in Ripoll,” explains a migrant to this newspaper anonymously. Others, with their faces revealed, explain that they have been asked up to 200 euros per personbut they have not yet dared to take the step, aware that The registry is a free procedure and mandatory and who, therefore, do not want to be victims of a scam like this.
EL PERIÓDICO has contacted two families with minors who have received ‘offers’ to register
There are those who justify it or even see it as help. “Thanks to these people my children can go to school, to the doctor… and we can have papers,” insist those who have succumbed. The reality is that the obstacles that the ultra mayor of the municipality, Sílvia Orriols, puts in place to make this process difficult for immigrants are causing the existence of a black market registration.
“I know that the registry is free but you are willing to do whatever it takes for your children,” says a mother
It is not a reality exclusive to Ripoll. Five years ago, EL PERIÓDICO reported that mafias operate in Catalonia that offer registration in exchange for sums of money, taking advantage of the impediments that some city councils place on those people who live in precarious places. In some municipalities in the Barcelona area the figures exceed 500 euros per person. What is new is that this is now happening in Ripoll, a town where, before the arrival of Orriols, not a single citizen complaint had been registered in relation to the registry, as was the case in other cities.
Grays Prada and her children, ages 6 and 13, have been without a registry for more than four months
Grays Dayana Prada is a Colombian woman who arrived in Ripoll on August 28 with her two children of 6 and 13 years old. They came to meet again with her husband and father, Óscar Leandro, an asylum seeker, who did manage to register in Ripoll because he did so before the arrival of Orriols. The family lives in one room, they don’t have money for more. Grays and the children have been without a registry for more than four months. “They have offered me 200 euros per person to register us,” explains the mother. In total, 600 euros.
Nazareth and Luis’s children, in Ripoll since December, have not yet been able to go to school or to the pediatrician
The woman, who works doing domestic cleaning and caring for the elderly at home, has been saving for weeks to be able to contact the scammers who offer her the registry in exchange for money. But she hasn’t taken the step yet. “Not because I don’t want to, but because they offer me a different address for each of us… and I don’t want that. If they register us somewhere else, at least the three of us are together,” Dayana continues.
The children are attending school in Ripoll, but they have not yet visited a doctor. “I know that the registry is free but you are willing to do whatever it takes for your children,” insists Dayana.
TO Nazareth Rebolledo and Luis Olivares They have also offered them registration in exchange for 200 euros. The couple, of Venezuelan origin, arrived in Ripoll six months ago. The woman managed to register in June, before Orriols changed the procedure. The man is registered in Barcelona. But his children, ages 13 and 15, arrived in December, They are ghost citizens who do not appear in any record. They do not have access to public healthcare and have not yet set foot in a classroom. “There are people who live here, they know what you are going through and they tell you that they have a rental contract or an apartment in their name. If you pay what they tell you, they will accompany you to the town hall, they will say that you live with them and they will register you,” says Rebolledo. .
This couple hasn’t tried it either. Money is scarce at home, they both have very precarious jobs. “At the end of the month we eat thanks to what the neighbors leave us, it is not enough for us for the entire month. If I had some money we would have already paid it, for your children you do whatever it takes,” they acknowledge.
“Anything for the children”
And this is precisely the justification given by other residents of Ripoll who have entered the black market of the registry. “For the health and future of your children you do whatever it takes,” they explain, requesting anonymity. This person details that as the weeks go by, the scammers raise the rates, aware of the impediments that the new local government is placing on foreigners.
EL PERIÓDICO has contacted the Ripoll City Council again to ask about all this problem but the council still does not want to make statements.
Jurists linked to NGOs in Catalonia are studying filing a complaint for discrimination on this issue, seeing that the Generalitat does not open any ex officio investigation. The general director of Drets Humans of the Conselleria d’Egualtat, Adam Majó, is in favor of a summit of mayors on the issue since Ripoll is not the only municipality affected.
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The Ombudsman of Greuges, Esther Giménez-Salinas, has already expressed her willingness to study the Ripoll case. The central government has given Orriols 20 days to explain how he is managing registration in the municipality, and has warned that if he does not comply, he could ultimately resort to the State Attorney’s Office.
The European Commission has also asked Spain for information on the Ripoll case, aware that the extreme right cannot ignore the basic rights of citizens.