{"id":4781,"date":"2026-04-14T22:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4781\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:44:19","slug":"spain-legalizes-residency-of-over-500000-illegal-immigrants-in-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4781\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain legalizes residency of over 500,000 illegal immigrants in the country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain<\/a> finalized a highly controversial move to legalize over 500,000 illegal immigrants<\/a> in the country, despite stiff opposition.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Council of Ministers approved the measure, granting legal status to over half a million illegal immigrants in a country of under 50 million. The effort was pushed for months by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez\u2019s left-wing coalition government and represents the most sweeping amnesty enacted by a European Union<\/a> country. Anyone who resided in the country for more than five months prior to Jan. 1, 2026, and doesn\u2019t have a criminal record, is eligible.<\/p>\n

Sanchez tapped into rhetoric common in left-wing circles in the United States, saying the mass legalization was needed to preserve Spanish diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the people who build the rich, open and diverse Spain that we have today,\u201d he wrote in a letter posted on X. \u201cAnd the country we aspire to have in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez claimed that because Spanish people had previously gone to other countries, they now had a moral obligation to welcome new immigrants. He also tapped into the argument that immigrants are needed to offset Spain\u2019s aging population.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain, like other European countries, is growing older,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cIf we do not take in new people to work and contribute to the social security system, our prosperity will slow, our capacity to innovate will decline, and our public services \u2014 health care, pension, education \u2014 will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church emerged as one of the most important supporters of the measure, being one of the effort\u2019s central movers from the start. The original petition for mass legalization was backed by\u00a084 Catholic organizations<\/a>, America Magazine reported, including Caritas Spain<\/a>, the\u00a0Jesuit Refugee Service<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0the Spanish bishops\u2019 conference<\/a>. Archbishop Luis Arg\u00fcello, president of the Spanish bishops\u2019 conference, met with Spain\u2019s two main parties in the Congress of Deputies in June 2025, urging both to vote in favor of the amnesty bill.<\/p>\n

The Migration Department of the Spanish bishops\u2019 conference, Caritas Spain, and the Spanish Conference of Religious praised<\/a> the decision in weighty terms in January when it began to gain traction, saying it was \u201cdemanded by broad sectors of society as a measure of political, ethical and social responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time has come to take a decisive step toward a more just and inclusive society, where no one is relegated to invisibility and exclusion,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Catholic organizations have helped facilitate the mass migration of illegal immigrants to Spain, setting up infrastructure across Spain to house and integrate African and Middle Eastern illegal immigrants. They\u2019ve also played a critical role in leveraging their moral authority to push the government to accept more immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protection of the right to life and the protection of people on the move must prevail over any security rationale and over any border,\u201d Fr. Camillo Ripamonti, president of the Astalli Refugee Center, said<\/a> in a January statement. \u201cThe Mediterranean cannot continue to be the scene of recurring tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

To fail to help immigrants cross the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, he proclaimed, was \u201cakin to a Pilate-like \u2018washing of one\u2019s hands.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish conservatives, who typically hold the country\u2019s Catholic heritage as central to its identity, reacted with horror to the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spanish people have not given permission for this,\u201d Vox leader Santiago Abascal said. \u201cIf the illegals \u2018already form part of our daily life\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain is part of the Schengen Area, which allows free travel between its members, making the mass legalization a larger problem for the rest of Europe. <\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow, they will be able to travel freely in France and even settle there, drawn by the generosity of our social system, which is open without conditions,\u201d French right-wing leader Jordan Bardella said<\/a> in a post on X. \u201cThis unacceptable and cynical decision must lead, in a first step, to suspending Schengen, and, over the longer term, to reserving freedom of movement exclusively for European citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

SPAIN PUSHES CHINA TO ASSUME GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ROLE<\/a><\/p>\n

Abascal cited Bardella\u2019s statement as a wider consequence of Sanchez\u2019s move, which he derided as treasonous.<\/p>\n

\u201cS\u00e1nchez brings Africa into Spain, and takes Spain out of Europe,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cThe pull effect is an expulsion effect of Spaniards from the common European space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain finalized a highly controversial move to legalize over 500,000 illegal immigrants in the country, despite stiff opposition.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[66,3344,3178,826,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-4781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-illegal-immigration","10":"tag-immigrants","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-spain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}