The left-wing government in Madrid has this week approved a plan to grant legal status to around 500,000 undocumented migrants - a move that has sparked fury on the right - marking a sharp break with tougher policies elsewhere in Europe.
Speaking after Tuesday's cabinet meeting at which the plan was passed by decree because the govrnment does not have a majority in the National Assembly, Migration Minister Elma Saiz hailied what she disingenuously described as the 'positive impact' of migration and said Spain was 'strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration and coexistence, compatible with economic growth and social cohesion.'
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces allegations of corruption, has argued Spain needs migration to fill labour shortages and offset an ageing population that threatens pensions and the welfare state. He has said migration accounted for 80 per cent of Spain's economic growth over the past six years. Sanchez is talking bollocks of course illegal immigration will never cure Spain's eonomic problems, but when have socialists ever talked sense about immigration.
In spite of being predictable the move sparked fury on the right. Santiago Abascal, leader of the hard-right Vox party, accused Sánchez of 'hating Spaniards' and 'accelerating an invasion'. Though critics say this is far right rhetoric aimed at stirring up civil unrest, anyone who follows European news will be aware that the same process is being enacted in other leading EU member nations including Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden.
Under the plan, the measure will apply to migrants who have lived in Spain for at least five months and who applied for international protection before December 31, 2025.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of the center-right opposition Popular Party said the plan was aimed at "diverting attention" from the rail disaster that killed 45 people in the south of the country on January 18.
"In socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded. Sanchez's migration policy is as reckless as his rail policy," he said.
The far-right Vox party announced legal action against the measure. Its leadership said it would appeal to Spain's Supreme Court as soon as the decree was published, seeking precautionary measures to suspend its implementation.
Vox argued that bypassing parliament on an issue of such scale was unacceptable and accused European institutions of dangerous passivity, demanding a clear response from them.
Mainland Spain continues to be main destination of irregular immigration to Europe, but in 2025 record-breaking numbers of people also reached the Canary Islands archipelago. At least 46,843 people have made the dangerous crossing from the African mainland to the island group, surpassing previous years.
The Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean are also seeing a rise in migration. Nearly 6,000 migrants arrived in the Balearic Islands in 2024 -- almost three times the number from the previous year. According to the Spanish news agency EFE, 5,924 migrants disembarked there in. 2024, compared with 2,278 in 2023. According to the migrant charity Caminando Fronteras, at least 517 people have died in 2024 on this migration route in 2024.
In the past two years, the majority of migrants arriving on the island group were found to have departed from Algeria across the Mediterranean. However, according to Caminando Fronteras, this is not necessarily an indication of their origin.
Illegal immigrants arrive in Spain on flimsy, overloaded boats (Picture: Daily Mail)
"Almost 40 percent of the people landing on the Spanish coast and the Balearic Islands now come from countries other than Algeria," the NGO said in a recently published report.
Even the erratic behaviour of US President Donald Trump over Greenland, civil unrest in Minnesota, France's descent into anarchy or the National Socialist shenanigans of Keir Starmer's government in Britain has diverted public attention in Spain from the illegal immigration crisis and inevitable surge in crime which has accompanied it, which for the first time is positioned as the country's main issue.
The concern about immigration reflected in surveys is also a reflection of the concern about the lack of political agreement to solve this phenomenon. Only unemployment and the economy surpassed concern about the migration phenomenon, a statistic which exposes the Socialist governments lie about the economic benefit of mass immigration. With burgeoning unemployment, particularly amon young people and in low paid sector of the economy, immigration, particularly the illegal kind, can only harm the economy.
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