Outside the campaign: push-backs, refugees and irregular immigrants

Various elections were held in Spain in 2015: local and regional elections in most regions in May, regional elections in Catalonia in September, and general elections in December. Did more elections mean more politicisation of immigration? To what extent did immigration feature in the campaigns? Based on the analysis of the debates around the so-called “push-backs” in Ceuta and Melilla, the deaths in the Mediterranean, the reception of refugees in the European Union, and immigrants with irregular status accessing healthcare, this article considers how and to what extent we may speak of the politicisation of immigration in Spain.