As Donald Trump slams Europe over migration, most leaders toughen their stance. Spain is an exception. – Chicago Tribune

MADRID — While most European leaders are talking tougher about immigration amid rising far-right populism and warnings from the Trump administration that they could face “civilizational erasure” if they don’t tighten their borders, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stands out.

The Iberian nation has welcomed millions of people from Latin America and Africa in recent years, and leftist Sánchez regularly touts the financial and social benefits that immigrants who come legally to Spain bring to the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy.

Spain’s choice, Sánchez often says, is between “being an open and prosperous country or a closed and poor country.”

His comments contrast sharply with those of other Western leaders and, so far, his gamble appears to be paying off. Spain’s economy grew faster than any other EU country for the second year in a row, thanks in part to new arrivals bolstering its aging workforce.

“Today, Spain’s progress and its strong economic situation owe a lot to the contribution of migrants who came to Spain to develop their life projects,” Sánchez said in July after anti-migrant clashes rocked a small town in southern Spain.

Europe’s changing mood

Sánchez’s approach to immigration, including his remarks on immigrants’ contributions to Spanish society, is consistent with those of the country’s previous progressive governments, said Anna Terrón Cusi, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute think tank who previously worked on immigration policy for several Spanish governments, including Sánchez’s.

“What has changed a lot internally is that there is now a very anti-immigration discourse from Vox, particularly against Muslim immigrants,” she said, referring to Spain’s far-right party which comes third in polls, behind the ruling Socialists and the center-right Popular Party. “But Sánchez, unlike other European leaders, responds by directly and firmly opposing this narrative. »

Centrist leaders across Europe face growing pressure from anti-immigration far-right parties, despite a significant decline in illegal border crossings into the EU over the past two years.

In France, where the once-ostracized far-right National Rally party has gained support, centrist President Emmanuel Macron is now talking about what he calls “the migration problem.”

“If we don’t want the National Rally to come to power, we must tackle the problem that fuels it,” Macron said last year after France adopted new restrictions that he described as “a shield” needed to “fight illegal immigration” while helping to “better integrate” migrant workers.

While running for German chancellor this year, Friedrich Merz pledged to toughen the country’s migration policy. Days after his election, Germany stepped up its border security efforts. And in recent weeks he has presented new figures suggesting an increase in expulsions of rejected asylum seekers and a decline in the number of new asylum seekers.

Political risks in Spain

Sánchez’s progressive government has also seen pro-immigration proposals stall.

Last year, she amended Spain’s immigration law to make it easier to grant residence and work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living illegally in the country. At the time, Migration Minister Elma Saiz said Spain needed to add up to 300,000 more tax-paying foreign workers a year to maintain state benefits, including pensions, health care and unemployment. Critics, however, said the changes to the law had many flaws and even harmed some migrants.

A more ambitious amnesty proposal, also approved by Sánchez’s progressive government, was blocked in parliament due to its thorny political nature.

“Some voices have pointed out that (the amnesty) could have a very important social impact,” said Cecilia Estrada Villaseñor, an immigration researcher at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid. She added: “There is a European context that comes into play. We belong to the European Union, and right now the balance is in another place. »

Limit arrivals of migrants by boat from Africa

Sánchez’s government, working with the EU, has also paid African governments to help prevent migrants from reaching Spanish shores, including many potential asylum seekers.

Most immigrants to Spain enter the country legally by plane. But the relatively small number of them arriving on Spanish shores on smuggler boats make headlines and are regularly presented by far-right politicians and media as a sign of what is wrong with the government’s position.

Last year, amid a sharp increase in the number of people making the dangerous sea crossing from Africa’s west coast to the Canary Islands, Sánchez traveled to Mauritania with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who pledged 210 million euros (about $247 million) of EU money to help the northwest African country curb migration.

The efforts seem to be paying off. Migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands this year have fallen by 60%, which even government critics say is due to tightened border controls by African governments.

But rights advocates blame Sánchez’s policies for the violent deaths of migrants in Spain and abroad, such as the 2022 hotspot in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, North Africa. In that case, sub-Saharan migrants and asylum seekers scaled a border fence, sparking clashes with authorities in which 23 migrants died.

In an interview with the Associated Press a week later, Sánchez defended the way Moroccan and Spanish police responded, calling the attempt “an attack on the Spanish borders.”

In response to questions from the AP, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said: “our migration policy is effective and responsible.”

Latin American migrants

Spain is home to millions of Latin American migrants, who benefit from a fast-track process for obtaining Spanish citizenship and generally integrate easily thanks to the common language.

More than 4 million people from Latin America were living legally in Spain in 2024, according to government figures. The current main countries of origin for Spanish immigrants are Morocco, Colombia and Venezuela.

Spain’s central bank estimates the country will need around 24 million working-age immigrants over the next 30 years to maintain the balance between workers and retirees plus children.

But economists say Spain’s millions of immigrants have fueled another political fire: the country’s increasingly unaffordable housing market. José Boscá, an economist at the University of Valencia, said that in addition to pressures from overtourism and short-term rentals in cities, Spain has not built enough housing to accommodate its new residents.

“If you integrate so many people, but you don’t build more housing, there could be problems,” Boscá said.

In response, Sánchez’s government pledged to finance more construction – particularly social housing – and also launched measures to crack down on wealthy foreigners buying second homes in the country.

Associated Press journalists Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Renata Brito in Barcelona, ​​Spain, contributed to this story.