The Council of Ministers in Spain approved on Tuesday the Royal Decree that allows the mass amnesty programme for illegal migrants, put forward by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez earlier this year.
While Prime Minister Sánchez was busy kowtowing to communist leaders in Beijing, his government in Madrid was busy clearing the way for illegal migrants to be granted amnesty and allowed to remain in the country.
After the approval of the Royal Decree on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, the guidelines will be published on Wednesday, and the process for illegals to start their amnesty applications will begin on Thursday, Madrid’s ABC newspaper reported.
The government has previously stated that they believe this would apply to around 500,000 illegals to gain legal status. However, reports have warned that well over a million migrants may be granted amnesty under the scheme.
Critics have also warned that it may create a “pull factor” for further illegal immigration on the assumption that more amnesties will be handed out.
It comes on top of warnings that the amnesty plan could act as a “pull factor” for more prospective illegals. Concerns have also been raised that illegals living in other EU nations may seek to gain a Spanish residence permit, which would allow them to remain in their country of choice in the internal open borders Schengen zone.
Under the programme, approved illegals will be granted initial one-year residency permits, with the ability to then seek standard visa routes. They will be granted the right to work in any sector of the Spanish economy, full rights, a social security number, and access to the country’s socialised healthcare system.
To qualify, a migrant must have been in Spain since last year, have been in the country for an uninterrupted term of five months at the time of applying, and have no criminal record.
Despite being in Communist China as the controversial law came into effect, Prime Minister Sánchez attempted to pitch his amnesty programme as a unifying measure with the “capacity to unite” in a “time of polarization”.
The socialist politician said that the scheme was merely an acknowledgement that the hundreds of thousands of illegals have already become an “integral part of our daily lives.”
“People who care for our elderly. Who work to ensure food reaches our tables. Who innovate, who start businesses, and whose children share classrooms, playgrounds, and a future with our own. People who are building the rich, open, and diverse Spain that we are—and the Spain we aspire to be,” he wrote.
Sánchez also pitched the scheme as a form of “justice”, noting that many Spaniards previously became immigrants themselves in the Americas and Europe.
However, he went on to claim that it was an economic “necessity”, arguing that because of Spain’s ageing population, it is necessary to import migrants to help fund the myriad of social programmes offered by the government. This comes despite growing evidence across Europe that many migrant populations serve as net negatives and often take more out of the system than they put in.
The leader of the centre-right People’s Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, lamented the law, saying it will create a “country where breaking the rules is more profitable than complying with them” and harm both those who arrived legally and the native population of Spain.
Responding to Sánchez, Santiago Abascal, the head of the anti-mass migration VOX party, said: “The Spanish people have not given permission for this. If the illegals ‘already form part of our daily life’ it is only because you and the PP have let them in against our laws and against our interests.”
“The people will not forgive it. Sooner rather than later, you will have to pay for it.”
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