Parliament’s Opposition to Amnesty Plan in Spain

A significant majority of Spain’s parliament supported a motion on Wednesday urging the government, led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to abandon its plans for amnesty for 500,000 undocumented immigrants.

In an alliance with far-left groups, Sánchez had announced in January that his administration would provide legal residency to these individuals, given they meet a relatively relaxed set of criteria. However, many Spaniards are against this initiative, yet Sánchez seems determined to proceed with a broad amnesty via a royal decree, bypassing the need for parliamentary approval.

As reported by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, lawmakers from the center-right People’s Party (PP), the anti-immigration Vox party, the Catalan party Juntu, and the conservative Navarre Popular Union (UNP) united to pass a motion led by the PP, demanding an immediate halt to the amnesty plan.

In the vote, the four coalition parties secured 176 votes, compared to 172 from the Spanish Left Party, the Basque Nationalist Party, and the Union of Canary Islands.

The People’s Party issued a statement highlighting that the House of Commons had rejected the government’s mass regularization plans. They asserted that the motion sought to urge the Executive to abandon this extraordinary regularization effort, citing concerns that it failed to meet necessary requirements and contravened European principles.

In addition, the PP’s motion included calls for the enforcement of return orders, reassessment of migration agreements with third countries, and deportation of foreigners who have committed serious crimes.

The four parties cautioned that independent analyses indicate Sánchez’s amnesty plan could potentially benefit between 1 million and 1.2 million people, far exceeding the government’s stated figure of 500,000, especially when considering those eligible for family reunification.

During the motion’s discussion, Spanish lawmaker Sofia Acedo accused the government of attempting to legalize the status of “thousands of criminals,” noting that Sánchez’s plan allows individuals unable to provide criminal record documents to submit affidavits instead.

Additionally, Vox lawmaker Ignacio Gil Lázaro has pushed for a longer residency requirement and for stripping citizenship from those committing serious offenses or attempting to impose radical ideologies. He argued that this would add “strength and realism” to the motion.

Reports suggest a royal decree for the mass amnesty may be signed in the next few weeks. PP lawmakers argued that the plan fails to address the urgent need for expedited processing by the decree, claiming it undermines regulatory safeguards and limits the involvement of other relevant government bodies.