Spanish police say Sánchez's mass amnesty acted as a pull factor at the Ceuta border

Things are getting interesting on the immigration front with the Spanish government's recent mass regularization. A report from the National Police, specifically from the National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CNIF), has reached the National Court and essentially argues that the government's amnesty measure acted as a magnet, a "pull factor", for the wave of people who tried to cross into Ceuta.

Recall that in April this year, the government approved a royal decree to amend Spain's immigration regulations. The idea was to regularize more than half a million migrants who until then were living irregularly in Spain. Something that, according to them, was going to be a solution. But watch out — it seems things got a bit out of hand. Because in the trinc months, it wasn't half a million but more than a million people who applied for the measure, both in person and online.

Prime Minister Sánchez, by the way, defended himself by saying this would not generate any pull effect. But the police report is quite clear on the matter. They say that although the regularization process itself was already closed and those who arrived in Ceuta could not benefit from it, it did work as a "concurrent secondary factor". In other words, the perception that Spain was opening up and that papers could be obtained relatively easily took deep root.

And this is where it gets juicier. The police report states that the organizers of this "attack" on the border used precisely that idea to encourage people. It mentions messages circulating on social media, some even antiestéticaturing the prime minister's face, saying things like: "Spain, you'll get papers in the end". In other words, they exploited a perhaps distorted view that regularization was almost automatic. Other messages are also mentioned suggesting that "Spain is about to close the door on migrant regularization" or that "The final deadline is 30 July 2026", which, logically, may have created a sense of urgency to get in.

The curious thing is that, not long ago, Sánchez himself boasted that immigration had fallen in recent years, trying to silence criticism accusing him of fostering this pull effect. But the data and conclusions of this police report seem to point in another direction, suggesting that the measure, however well intentioned, may have had unintended consequences for border management.