Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered a frail defense of migration in a guest essay for The New York Times (NYT) published Wednesday.
Sánchez’ argument for migration is two-pronged. “The first and most important” consideration is “a moral one,” he claims.
“Spain was once a nation of emigrants. Our grandparents, parents and children moved to America and elsewhere in Europe seeking a better future during the 1950s and 1960s and following the 2008 financial crisis. Now, the tables have turned. Our economy is flourishing. Foreigners are moving to Spain. It is our duty to become the welcoming and tolerant society that our own relatives would have hoped to find on the other side of our borders.”
Spaniards did not flock to North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East. They left Spain from the United States and other European nations, as Sánchez mentions. Even if one grants that emigration comes with moral obligations (a big presumption), why should Spain be obligated to nations which did not take in massive waves of Spanish immigrants?
Besides, I sincerely doubt taking in Muslim migrants is going to usher in a more welcoming and tolerant society. Gay voters in Spain and other parts of Europe are increasingly backing nationalist movements for this very reason. (RELATED: UK Parliament Liberals Block National Inquiry Into Migrant Grooming Gangs)
Sánchez only weakly gestures towards the problems caused by Muslim migrants: “It won’t be easy. We know that. Migration brings opportunities, but also huge challenges that we must acknowledge and face. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that most of those challenges have nothing to do with migrants’ ethnicity, race, religion or language. Rather, they are driven by the same forces that affect our own citizens: poverty, inequality, unregulated markets, barriers to accessing education and health care.”
Sánchez’ hypothesis is so weak, it almost insults the reader’s intelligence. Unregulated markets are obviously not the independent factor motivating people to commit brutal crimes such as rape. Look at Britain, where men, largely of Muslim Pakistani origin, have been grooming and raping British girls for decades.
🇪🇸 Per @WhitePapersPol, since Pedro Sanchez took office in 2018, Spain’s foreign-born population has more than doubled to 9.46 million.
From 10% to 20% of the population in just 8 years.
Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/J4H043udna
— Europa.com (@europa) February 1, 2026
The second prong of Sánchez’ argument is economic.
“The West needs people. Currently, few of its countries have a rising population growth rate. Unless they embrace migration, they will experience a sharp demographic decline that will prevent them from keeping their economies and public services afloat … The only option to avoid decline is to integrate migrants in the most orderly and effective way possible.”
That is not the only option. The other option is for Westerners to start having children.
And why not specify which migrants the West needs? Many, even on the right, would be sympathetic to extending visas to extraordinary individuals (though, as evidenced by the H-1B visa scandals, such ideas are often abused in practice). Sánchez won’t define the quality or quantity of migrants the West is supposed to welcome. (RELATED: Betrayed American Workers Expose Dark Underbelly Of H-1B Visa Scheme)
Sánchez, much to my frustration, never clarifies his moral philosophy. He wobbles between “spiritual development” and economic pragmatism. It’s not clear what sort of spirit he has in mind.
Sánchez is an atheist, according to the BBC. He was sworn into office in 2018, taking an oath to protect Spain’s constitution, but reportedly declining to swear on a Bible or crucifix. Sánchez used the Spanish word for “promise” instead of “swear,” according to The Christian Post.
“For me, the choice is clear. And for the sake of our prosperity and human dignity, I hope many others will follow suit,” Sánchez concludes, referring to the choice to welcome migrants.
Should the wellbeing of foreigners conflict with the wellbeing of the Spanish people, one wonders where Sánchez’ loyalty would lie.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC
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