Judith Piquet: "We are not racists or xenophobes, we only ask for real integration of immigrants"

Pablo R. Roces Madrid

Madrid

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-00:17

What is the situation in Alcalá de Henares right now with the arrival of immigrants? We have more than a thousand migrants right now in the Internment Center and we continue to demand that the Government of Spain assume its powers. Because in the last Local Security Board we made a series of commitments from the Government Delegation, such as reinforcing the National Police with foot patrols and a series of changes and improvements in the organization, but absolutely nothing is being done. In fact, the only conversation I have now is with the delegate through emails, where he tells me the number of immigrants there are inside the center. Some information that the NGOs already give me, perhaps they should get in touch when they send 189 migrants like the day before last night. From the Delegation they assure that you are notified of these movements. We are not notified. In fact, they gave us a schedule at the beginning, which they haven't even kept. And as I say, just two days ago more than 180 people arrived at the center and we were not notified. Suddenly, the next day, we found the information note. Is there a problem of insecurity associated with these migrants as Vox, their government partner, defends? What there has been, although the Government Delegation has tried to deny it, are incidents and fights inside the center. An inmate was in a coma for two days and there are 11 expulsion files open for immigrants who had committed crimes. Therefore, it is not that immigration is directly related to crime, but it is true that there have been complaints about incidents in the city. That is not lying, as the delegate does trying to cover up what is happening. What they have to do is assume its consequences, implement the committed security plan and ensure that this has an end date. Now they say that it will be until the immigration problem is resolved, but with this chaos and this lack of planning, no problem is being addressed, it is getting bigger and leading to the rest of the municipalities. You assure that they are creating a covert CIE, in what way? What is it based on? Yes, of course, because they don't tell us if there is an end date. At first they said March, then May and now as long as the immigration problem lasts, so we are worried that this is a covert CIE. At least let them notify the mayor's office, let our neighbors know what we are going to face. Would you oppose the creation of a CIE in Alcalá? I want certainties to inform my neighbors, who continually ask me what we can do and what will happen. to pass. In El Ensanche they are very concerned because they are seeing these immigrants sometimes committing uncivil acts, fighting, throwing bottles, urinating in the street... That is why I ask for transparency and information that we have never obtained. If we even found out from the press that these immigrants were coming to Alcalá, not even a call from the Government Delegation, which occurred afterwards.What do those neighbors tell you? They are worried about security and integration. I have emphasized to the Delegation that they propose integration and coexistence workshops, so that fights do not occur, garbage cans are not emptied, and garbage cans are not urinated in public places. I understand that they do not have enough food inside the center and that the migrants also have to make a living. The Spanish Refugee Assistance Network has already filed complaints and this week I have a meeting with them to give me information on how the migrants are doing inside. It is not about being racist or xenophobic, we only ask that there be real integration and a plan so that it does not impact the daily life of Alcalá.

ALBERTO DI LOLLI

I would like to know your view on that case of sexual abuse that President Ayuso linked to the migrant center. The only thing the president said was that two cases of sexual assault had been reported and the Government delegate tried to cover up that they had existed. He first said that there were no complaints and when he came out that there were two on December 11 for touching he had to say that there was no relationship with the immigrants. That is to say, he lied from the beginning and one of the complainants did identify one of the immigrants. We know that some of these complaints have reached the court on duty, but we no longer know more. In that case, is it not correct to relate them to the center either? As I say, one of the complainants identified a member of the center, for Therefore we know what occurred at the police headquarters. We do not know what the proceedings are currently in the Investigative Court, but the fact that one of the victims identified a member of the center is a reality. How do you manage this immigration situation with a government partner who requests your immediate deportation? The relationship with Vox is good regarding all matters of the municipal government and we are not going to enter into an ideological war with this matter. Vox knows what the powers of the local and regional government and of Spain are despite the fact that it launches insults that do not correspond to what Isabel Díaz Ayuso and I can do and what we cannot do. They should demand their powers from each one, Vox knows what they are and must be consistent with what we can and cannot do. From your words I deduce that it seems to you that they are using it politically against the PPWhat I am trying to tell Vox is that you know perfectly well What are the powers at the three levels and who should demand it is from the Government of the Nation, which is the one who has these powers, the rest we can do little. You are also president of the Madrid Federation of Municipalities. What objectives or challenges do you have ahead of you in the short term? We are working on using the Federation as a tool to benefit city councils, especially those with less than 5,000 inhabitants. We must focus above all on obtaining subsidies so that they can have opportunities that they would not otherwise have. What deficits do you think exist and should you ask the Community of Madrid? Right now the complaints that I receive from the municipalities are not deficits of the Community of Madrid, are the problem of Cercanías and that the Tajo Hydrographic Confederation has many developments without progress due to lack of resolution. So right now the most pressing problems depend on the central government. But we have also informed the regional administration of the Health and Education infrastructures that remain pending. You also stated that the Federation will be a containment dam against Pedro Sánchez. In that body there are also PSOE town councils.Do you agree with that? The majority of us mayors are suffering the grievance of the central government towards Madrid and the immigration problem or the Cercanías are good examples. We are seeing how Rodalies and 6.3 billion are given to Catalonia while almost the budget for improvements is not executed here. That is creating first and second class citizens according to the Government partner that keeps you in Moncloa. So yes, of course we are going to be a containment dam so that Madrid is not a region punished by the Pedro Sánchez government.

ALBERTO DI LOLLI

How does the amnesty affect the residents of Alcalá de Henares? Well, I have just given a very clear example, if you are a resident of Catalonia, you are going to have an investment in the suburban network and in Alcalá we are going to get a northern access in the station or so that our neighbors do not have to stand on a platform for 20 minutes without knowing if they are going to get to their work or school. That is another agreement with the independence movement, I asked him directly about the amnesty. Sánchez talks about building walls, but we mayors are not going to allow there to be first and second class citizens as it suits him, because his only interest is to make concessions such as the amnesty to stay. in power. Are first and second class citizens being created in Alcalá? In Alcalá de Henares and in the Community of Madrid we have, for example, victims of terrorism and now the president is going to decide which is good terrorism and which is bad. That is making differences between some neighbors and others at your convenience. I understand that you are not in favor of this modification of the crime that the President of the Government introduced. Not at all, I cannot understand that there is good or bad terrorism, there is simply terrorism. And like all forms of violence, including the attacks on PSOE headquarters, such as in Alcalá de Henares, they are condemnable. Would you also classify these attacks on socialist headquarters as terrorism since you have made the comparison? We condemn violence and all kinds of terrorism, without palliatives of whether it is good or bad. I don't know if the socialist spokesperson in Alcalá considers that the attacks on his headquarters are terrorism and now, as a national deputy, he is going to favor that those who brought the violence on October 1 to Catalonia now be amnestied