Spain lengthens detention period of illegal immigrants

Madrid - The Spanish parliament approved Thursday a controversial draft law allowing for undocumented immigrants to be held in detention centres for up to 60, instead of the current 40, days. The opposition conservatives accused Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government of not doing enough to curb illegal immigration, while leftist critics said the law allowed migrants to be held for longer than criminal suspects.

The reform will modify Spain's immigration law for the fourth time in eight years.

Critics have described the reform as unnecessary, given that increased frontier controls and Spain's economic crisis have cut down the influx of migrants.

The number of undocumented immigrants entering Spain has gone down by more than half, to about 7,000 so far in 2009, according to the European Union border control agency Frontex.

Parliament also approved agreements allowing more than 600,000 immigrants from Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Cape Verde, Iceland and New Zealand to vote in Spanish local elections.

Both reforms need to be approved by the senate before entering into force.