Over two-thirds of the Spanish public are opposed to the mass amnesty of illegal migrants planned by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Last month, the leftist coalition government announced that it would enact by Royal decree — thus skirting the need for a vote in the parliament — to grant residence permits to illegals who could demonstrate that they do not have a criminal record and have been in the country for at least five months.
The Socialist party-led government initially estimated that this would allow for the regularisation of half a million migrants; however, other projections have found that upwards of 850,000 illegals could receive residency under the scheme.
The move is apparently wildly unpopular, with a SocioMétrica survey for the El Español news outlet finding that 67.4 per cent of Spanish voters oppose the amnesty.
Intriguingly, opposition is fiercest among young voters aged 17 to 35, 89.3 per cent of whom are against the scheme.
In contrast, just 29.4 of voters support the amnesty plan. Unsurprisingly, this cohort was largely comprised of voters for leftist parties, including 70 per cent of supporters of Prime Minister Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, 75 per cent of the leftist Sumar coalition partner, and 83.6 per cent of the far-left Podemos party.
The survey also found that 69 per cent of Spaniards are concerned that the amnesty announcement will work as a “pull factor” for more prospective illegals. Police sources have previously warned that illegals in other EU nations may seek to gain residency in Spain and thus become legal in other Schengen nations.
Despite the significant opposition to the measure, the far-left has been reacting with glee to the plans, with Podemos MEP Irene Montero openly bragging that the amnesty is an electoral strategy and is intended to “replace” conservative voters with foreigners.
Meanwhile, Algerian-born MEP Tesh Sidi drew strong backlash after reacting to a post noting that migrants are more likely to steal from you than a native Spaniard by saying that it will no longer matter because soon they “will all be Spanish”.
However, the apparent arrogance of the left may have come too soon, as the governing Socialist party suffered significant defeats in the local elections earlier this month in the Aragón region, widely seen as one of Spain’s chief political bellwether regions.
In contrast, the anti-mass-migration Vox party doubled its performance in the region compared with the previous vote in 2023.
The centre-right People’s Party (PP) has also said that it plans to make immigration a central campaign issue in next year’s general election. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo told El Mundo this weekend that his party is planning to introduce legislation restricting the ability of migrants to obtain Spanish citizenship.
“I will not be the one to hand out Spanish nationality or grant permits to everyone. I will not do it. This Prime Minister has a complete rejection of all the right-wing, social-democratic, or PP prime ministers in Europe. There is not a single European minister who agrees with the demagogic regularisation of Sánchez. To confuse humanity with opportunism is doubly immoral,” he said.
Indeed, the European Commission has reportedly expressed concern about the amnesty push by the Socialist government in Madrid, with unnamed officials briefing Euronews this week that it risks undermining Brussels’ efforts to deter illegal immigration.
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