Spanish parliament approves controversial immigration law

Madrid. Spain's lower house of parliament has approved a controversial law which extends from 40 to 60 days the maximum period that illegal immigrants can be held in detention centres before being deported.

The draft law also imposes restrictions on parents joining their immigrant children in Spain, which has seen the unemployment rate soar to nearly 18 percent, the highest level in the European Union.

It now goes to the Senate, the upper house of parliament, and if it passes as expected the new rules will take effect in 2010.

The draft law has drawn widespread criticism from Latin America, from where the bulk of Spain's immigrants come from as well as from rights groups who point out it allows illegal immigrants to be held for longer than criminal suspects.

But the conservative opposition Popular Party accuses the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's of not doing enough to curb illegal immigration (...)