For anyone baffled about what’s going on in Spain, I commend to your attention the following New York Times op-ed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, titled, “I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants.”
“Imagine you’re the leader of a nation, and you face a dilemma. Half a million or so people who are crucial to everyone’s daily lives inhabit your country,” Sanchez began his pitch for providing legal status to 500,000 migrants.
“One crucial thing makes these half a million people different from other people in your country: They don’t have the legal documents that allow them to live there. As a result, they don’t have the same rights as your country’s citizens and can’t fulfill the same obligations. They aren’t able to receive a higher education, pay taxes or contribute to Social Security.”
“What should we do with these people? Some leaders have chosen to hunt them down and deport them through operations that are both unlawful and cruel. My government has chosen a different way: a fast and simple path to regularize their immigration status. Last month, my government issued a decree that makes up to half a million undocumented migrants living in Spain eligible for temporary residence permits, with certain conditions, which they will be able to renew after a year.”
Sanchez went on to claim that, “The regularization effort underway in Spain actually began as a citizen-led initiative endorsed by more than 900 nongovernmental organizations, including the Catholic Church, and it has the support of business associations and trade unions alike. More important, it is backed by the people: According to a recent poll, nearly two of three Spaniards believe that migration represents an opportunity or a necessity for our country.”
Then he sneered that, “MAGA-style leaders may say that our country can’t handle taking in so many migrants—that this is a suicidal move, the desperate act of a collapsing country. But don’t let them fool you. Spain is booming.”
Booming indeed.
Spain received 1,2 million applications instead of just 500,000. The application window closed on June 30. A whole lot of foreigners, including in Morocco were left with the impression that they could get legal status if they just made it in.
Making matters worse, Spain’s Supreme Court ruled in July that migrants who arrived by sea would have their asylum applications processed instead of being immediately returned to Morocco.
The final blow came when Sanchez angered Morocco’s government by visiting Algeria. Morocco took down border security and encouraged its people to flood in. Moroccans were already primed to believe that they’d get legal status as soon as they crossed the border, thanks to Sanchez, Pope Leo and Spain’s leftist government.
The rest we all saw on video.
Some members of the red-green-black alliance (Communists, Islamists, Nazis) have been shouting that this was a conspiracy between President Trump and Israel. In reality it’s what happens when an open borders leftist government encourages mass migration and then gets overwhelmed by the consequences.