An absolute majority of Spanish lawmakers on Wednesday approved a motion urging the government of socialist Prime Minster Pedro Sánchez “immediately resigns” its plans to grant amnesty to half a million illegal migrants in the country.
Sánchez announced in late January that, as part of an alliance with the nation’s far-left, his administration will grant legal residence permits to 500,000 illegal alliance provided they comply a lax list of requirements. The Spanish Prime Minister intends to grant the mass amnesty through a Royal Decree, which exempts him from needing parliamentary approval for implementation — despite a majority of Spaniards expressing opposition to Sánchez’s plans.
The Spanish newspaper El País reports that lawmakers from the the center-right People’s Party (PP), the anti-mass-migration Vox party, the Catalan political party Junts, and the conservative Navarrese People’s Union (UNP) party formed a majority that successfully approved a PP-led motion calling for the government’s to immediately stop its mass amnesty plans.
The motion received 176 votes in favor from the united four parties against 172 votes from the Spanish left parties, the Basque Nationalist Party, and the Canarian Coalition.
The People’s Party said in a statement:
A majority in the Congress of Deputies has rejected the government’s plan for mass regularization of immigrants. As a result, the People’s Party parliamentary group has secured the plenary’s support for its motion urging the executive branch to immediately abandon the extraordinary regularization of immigrants, on the grounds that it fails to meet the necessary requirements and runs counter to European principles and the objectives set forth in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum.
The second point of the PP’s motion calls on the government to effectively enforce return orders, review migration agreements with third countries, and ensure the deportation of foreign nationals who have committed serious crimes or are repeat offenders.
The four parties warned that, according to independent estimates, Sánchez’s illegal migrant amnesty plans could benefit between one and 1.2 million and not just half a million as the Spanish government says if those eligible for family reunification benefits are factored in.
During the motion’s debate, Spanish Congresswoman Sofía Acedo reportedly accused the government of seeking to legalize the status of “thousands of criminals” on grounds that Sánchez’s amnesty plans include a provision allowing individuals who are unable to obtain a criminal record certificate to submit a sworn statement.
Vox Congressman Ignacio Gil Lázaro, for his part, reiterated his calls to extend the minimum number of years required to qualify for long-term Spanish residency and revoking citizenship and deporting those who commit serious crimes or “attempt to impose Islamism.” He reportedly justified his calls arguing that, they lent greater “strength and realism” to the motion’s proposals.
Sánchez is reportedly expected to sign the mass amnesty Royal Decree in the coming weeks. PP lawmakers insisted that the plan does not not address “an urgent need that would justify fast-track processing” via a decree, since such procedures “undermine regulatory safeguards, limit debate, and prevent the participation of other affected government bodies.”
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