That “Spanish nationality is not a gift, it is deserved” and that “entire neighborhoods cannot be converted into unrecognizable places in our country” were two of the slogans he proclaimed last Tuesday Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the presentation of his party’s new immigration plan. Months ago, the parliamentary spokesperson for Vox, Pepa Millandefended that “nationality cannot in any case be a gift” and Santiago Abascal He said he wanted “our streets to continue being and looking like the streets of Spain.” For this reason, in Vox they accuse the PP of doing “Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V [copia y pega]” of his plans.
The hardening of the PP’s immigration stance, which its leaders have been advancing in recent months, has been ratified in a document that brings its approaches closer to those traditionally championed by the Abascal party. Not by chance, the turn popular It occurs at a time when right-wing parties are fighting for a vote that is increasingly concerned about this issue: according to the latest CIS barometer, the 50,5% of those who voted for Vox in July 2023 and the 26,4% of those who opted for the PP point to immigration as one of the three “main problems that currently exist in Spain” – in July they were the 37,3% and the 22,9%respectively. Hence, Feijóo is now repositioning himself on this issue, approaching Abascal’s theses. But it still maintains certain key distances.
It is in discursive terms where the hardening of the PP’s immigration approaches is most evident, as Feijóo highlighted in his speech on Tuesday. Thus, the popular They have assumed the theses that Vox had been defending about the need for those who come from abroad to “integrate”, “to guarantee commitment to our democracy and common values.” “Nationality must be the reflection of a deep commitment to Spain: with its history, its language and its values,” say those from Feijóo, and in parallel those from Abascal affirm: “The granting of nationality must be the result of the effort to integrate.”
“EXPULSIONS”
It is in the fine print of the rest of the proposals that each other transfers where the differences emerge. The first, in relation to who each party wants to “expel.” The popular They openly ask for the “return” to their countries of origin of those immigrants, whether irregular or regular, convicted of “especially serious crimes” or repeat offenders of minor infractions. It is a change in their position, but it does not reach Vox’s approach. The PP does not talk about “mass deportations” nor does it use the concept of “remigration”, something that Abascal’s party does. And, to the list of people who popular advocate “expelling”, the party to their right adds several more groups: all irregulars – whether they commit crimes or not -, anyone “who decides not to integrate into the culture of the nation that welcomes them” and those who “have come to live off the efforts of others.” The defense of the expulsion of irregular migrants or those who commit crimes is supported by 70% of the Spanish population, according to the Sigma Dos survey.
UNACCOMPANIED MINORS
There is one more group that Vox wants to kick out: “all” unaccompanied migrant minors. And this, which motivated the breakup of the autonomous governments shared by PP and Vox, is another of the points that, despite Feijóo’s hardening, continues to generate a gap with Abascal. The popular They ask that the “management” of these young people “not be the result of an arbitrary distribution” and demand that the central government provide the funds to care for them. And, although they are already talking about “demanding” that the countries of origin “find their families”, they are still far from Vox’s approach: it wants to “repatriate” all the minors who arrive irregularly in Spain and refuses to provide funding, state or regional, to care for them. What Feijóo and Abascal agree on is requesting “tests” to verify the age of the young people who arrive.
REGULARIZE MIGRANTS
Feijóo has also approached Abascal regarding what happens to foreigners who have been in Spain for some time: he asks to put an end to the “generalized regularizations” and “recover the exceptional nature of roots.” However, and here comes the difference, Vox has a more extreme position: “Not one more!” says one of its campaigns, which asks that there be “not one” more regularization. Regarding roots, it proposes to “make the appropriate legal modifications in order to eliminate” this figure as a tool to “allow the legal residence of people who have entered illegally.”
Feijóo and Abascal do agree in demanding that the granting of financial aid be linked to legal residence, and not to registration, and also in relation to which immigrants they consider can stay in Spain. Both are in favor of allowing the stay of those who enter regularly and come to work: the popular They propose a “visa by points” to positively value the “training, experience, language and integration” of those who arrive, and Vox, although it has not put the “visa” formula on the table, agrees with these criteria. Both also advocate giving priority to Hispanic immigrants. This vision is denounced from the left as “Islamophobia” or “racism.”
BORDERS
There is a key point that still marks the distance between PP and Vox: if the popular ask to “promote the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum“, Abascal’s people want to “abandon him.” However, both right-wing parties do share their proposals to improve border control: they ask to reinforce the number of security forces. Civil Guard y National Police and intensify the activity of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). Vox even talks about promoting a “naval blockade” to “protect the coasts”, an extreme that the PP does not reach.
SUPPORT TO NGOS
Finally, on paper, the right disagrees about NGOs that help migrants. The PP does not include anything about this in its new plan, while Vox is radical: “We will eliminate subsidies to NGOs, associations or any entity that allocates its funds to promote or help illegal immigration.” This approach even reaches those linked to the Church, such as Caritas. However, this proposal has been adopted by the popular in some of the CCAA where they required the support of Vox to approve budgets, which leaves the door open for their position to harden even more.