Junts registered a revised bill in Spain’s Congress on Wednesday to delegate specified immigration responsibilities to the Generalitat, Catalonia’s government, according to 3CatInfo. The move starts a new parliamentary process but does not itself change immigration procedures for migrants or other Catalonia residents.

If approved, the proposal would give the Generalitat responsibility for authorising long-term stays and temporary residence, as well as issuing identity documents for foreign nationals. It also envisages the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police force, sharing security duties at ports and airports with the National Police and Civil Guard.

The earlier bill was stopped at its first congressional debate in September after votes against it from Podemos, the Popular Party and Vox. Junts and the PSOE, Spain’s Socialist Workers’ Party, had jointly signed that previous text.

Junts removes contested language from the preamble

Junts has kept the bill’s operative articles while reducing the preamble, the explanatory section that prompted Podemos to describe the earlier wording as racist. El País reported that the preamble of the previous version ran to two of the document’s 16 pages and was signed on 14 March 2025 by PSOE spokesperson Patxi López and Junts spokesperson Míriam Nogueras.

The revised wording removes references to the rights and duties of migrants, the cohesion of the receiving society, and the protection of Catalan language and culture, 3CatInfo reported.

Speaking on Ser Catalunya, Nogueras said the changes were intended to remove grounds for opposition while retaining the substance of the proposal.

“The articles will not be changed by even a hair.”

Podemos had objected to passages that it said linked immigration with insecurity and presented the arrival of foreign nationals as a risk to social cohesion. Junts has said it is prepared to revise the preamble, but not the articles of the bill.

Police staffing provision remains part of the dispute

One provision criticised by Podemos would expand the Mossos d’Esquadra workforce to 26,800 officers by 2032. Podemos has argued that the measure links immigration with crime, while Junts has said more officers would be needed for responsibilities envisaged by the bill, including a presence at airports, according to El Periódico.

  • Junts is seeking authority over long-term stays and temporary residence permits.
  • The proposal includes issuing identity documents for foreign nationals.
  • The bill envisages Mossos participation in security work at ports and airports.

Junts expects the PSOE to support the revised proposal, but it has not clarified whether it has secured Podemos’s vote for the new text.

Reported by 3cat.cat, Marc Rovira, Carlota Camps, El Debate, Alberto Ortiz, José Enrique Monrosi, Aitor Riveiro, Félix Donate Mazcuñán, elmundo.es, Por Clara Arias Seguir, OT SERRA, okdiario.com, Sara de Diego, antena3.com, Agencias, 3CatInfo Barcelona.