The government’s plan has ignited fierce political debate as anti-immigration sentiment hardens across Europe
Spain’s government has passed a decree to legalize approximately half a million undocumented migrants, igniting fierce political debate as anti-immigration sentiment grows across the European continent.
On Tuesday, the cabinet approved a decree, expected to come into effect in April, that will grant one-year residence and work permits to foreigners who can prove they lived in Spain for at least five months before the end of 2025.
The measure, crafted by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists and Podemos, another left-wing party, bypassed a fractured parliament. The government argues that the policy is necessary to address workforce shortages and Spain’s aging population.
Sanchez stated that Spain “lacks people” and must choose between being “a closed and poor nation” or “opening itself to the world to ensure prosperity.”
Opposition leaders have reacted with fierce condemnation, framing the move as politically motivated and irresponsible. Popular Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo accused Sanchez of attempting to “deflect attention” from a mounting national crisis following a series of recent fatal passenger train accidents that have killed dozens.
He also denounced the mass regularization as a “reward for illegal migration” and vowed to repeal it if his party returned to power.
Right-wing Vox leader Santiago Abascal went even further, accusing the government of promoting a large-scale “invasion” to “replace” the local population and calling for mass deportations.
The Spanish initiative comes despite a broader European shift toward stricter immigration controls as public frustration over integration and crime has fueled the rise of right-wing parties, with critics warning that open-border policies are changing the continent’s social fabric.
US President Donald Trump recently contributed to the debate, accusing European nations last week in Davos of “destroying” themselves through uncontrolled migration policies which have led to “lower economic growth, lower standards of living, lower birth rates, more socially disruptive migration, [and] more vulnerability to hostile foreign adversaries.”
Moscow has also repeatedly highlighted the EU’s decline, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying last month that after the fall of the USSR, Russia had expected to be welcomed into the “civilized Western family,” only to discover that “civilization there is nonexistent, and degradation is all there is.”
