Pedro Sánchez defends the regularization of migrants in a forum published in The New York Times. The President of the Government assures in the American newspaper that the Government’s plan is due to a “moral” and “pragmatic issue”, since “the West needs migrants.”
The leader of the Executive is committed to a “quick and simple path” against the leaders who have “chose to persecute and deport them through illegal and cruel operations.” Thus, he insists that Spain was “once a nation of emigrants” and sees it as a “duty” to convert us into a welcoming and tolerant society that our own relatives “would have expected to find on the other side of our borders.”
“The West needs migrants. Currently, few of its countries have an increasing demographic growth rate. If they do not accept migration, they will experience a strong demographic decline that will prevent them from keeping their economies and public services afloat,” continues Sánchez, who considers that it is a “pragmatic” issue also for people driven by “poverty, inequality, unregulated markets, barriers to access to education and health care.”
Criticism of “MAGA leaders” and “challenges” of migration
Furthermore, Sánchez asks not to be “deceived” by the “MAGA-style leaders – close to Donald Trump -” who believe that Spain cannot support hosting a greater number of migrants and takes pride in Spain’s economic situation: “For three consecutive years, we have had the fastest growing economy among the largest countries in Europe. We have created one in every three new jobs in the EU and our unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since 2008.”
However, the President of the Government admits that “it will not be easy” and that migration brings “enormous challenges that must be faced.” “The important thing is to know that most of these challenges have nothing to do with the ethnicity, race, religion or language of the migrants. On the contrary, they are driven by the same things that affect our citizens.”
Thus, Sánchez believes that what works for some, can work for others. “We must choose between becoming closed and impoverished societies, or open and prosperous societies,” he says, adding that we can only “grow or regress”: “For me, the choice is clear. And for the sake of our prosperity and our human dignity, I hope others will follow suit.”
