The socialist government in Spain is set to give amnesty to half a million illegal migrants as part of a deal with the far-left.
According to Madrid’s ABC newspaper, over 500,000 illegals will be offered the chance to gain residency permits in Spain if they can prove they have been in the country before December 31, 2025, have no criminal record, and can demonstrate that they were in Spain for at least five months before their application.
The amnesty programme, which will run until June 30, is set to be implemented by Royal Decree, meaning the government will not need parliament’s approval to enact it.
It came as part of a deal with the governing Socialist Party and the far-left Podemos party, which served in a coalition government with Prime Minsiter Pedro Sánchez.
Former Minister of Equality and current Member of European Parliament for the leftist party, Irene Montero, said of the amnesty deal: “Racism, comrades, is countered with rights. If they kidnap children, if they murder, if they terrorise people, we provide papers.
“Podemos has reached an agreement with the PSOE for the Government to immediately approve an extraordinary regularisation of migrants. Podemos is here to guarantee rights, and papers are rights.”
“Fascism is stopped with more rights,” Podemos Secretary General Ione Belarra added.
The move will be the first major amnesty since 2005, when the previous Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero granted amnesty to up to 700,000 illegals.
According to a report from the Funcas think tank, there are around 840,000 illegals currently living in Spain, more than eight times the amount in 2017. The report found that they mostly hailed from the Latin American nations of Colombia, Honduras, and Peru.
The planned amnesty was criticised by the leader of the anti-mass migration VOX party, Santiago Abascal, who said: “The tyrant Sánchez hates the Spanish people. He wants to replace them. That’s why he intends to promote the pull effect by decree, to accelerate the invasion.
“We must stop him. Repatriations, deportations, and remigration.”