From riots to 'regularization,' U.K. and Spain show opposing attitudes to migrants

This hebdomad offered a tale of deuce starkly different Europes. 

In Northern republic of ireland, the streets burnt with anti-immigrant eumenides following a violent knife attack in Belfast that was allegedly committed by a Sudanese refugee. Within hours, figures like far-right activist Tommy Robinson and trillionaire Elon Musk used social media to stoke public anxiety, fuelling nights of co-ordinated rioting.

Yet as that chaos unfolded, just a short flight away, Spain was actively pursuing a diametrically opposed path. 

Authorities there are in the midst of extending an invitation to up to half a million undocumented migrants to apply for legal residency.

The sweeping program provides a legal bridge for them to remain in the country and live openly, secure employment and pay Spanish taxes for years to come.

This approach underscores the opposing responses to the polarizing issue of migration, which has consumed governments across continental Europe and the United Kingdom.

That divergence provided a remarkable backdrop for Pope Leo’s visit to Spain’s Canary Islands on Thursday and Friday. The most southerly point in Europe — closer to Africa than Spain — it's one of the world’s most deadly maritime migration paths, where more than 1,300 people have perished in the last six months, and tens of thousands have died in recent years. 

"You have dreams that no one has the right to despise," Leo told the audience, which included hundreds of recently arrived migrants.

He spoke directly from the Arguineguin dock,  the main port of Gran Canaria. It's notoriously dubbed the "Dock of Shame" for the squalid conditions thousands of migrants had to endure in 2020, when arrivals overwhelmed the island’s ability to cope.

Pope Leo urges compassion for migrants during Spain trip

"Your lives must be protected," said the U.S.-born Pope, underscoring his intent to make the compassionate treatment of migrants one of the hallmark issues of his papacy. 

The Pope’s call may not have much resonance in large parts of Europe right now, but in Spain under socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, it has effectively become government policy.

"I think that every time that we make law close to reality, it's a good thing," said Oriol Nebot, a lawyer working with Catholic NGO Cáritas, which is helping migrants with the "regularization" process.

Many new arrivals already hold jobs and send their children to Spanish schools. Legalizing their status simply acknowledges existing circumstances, Nebot said.

"It's a win for these people because it's also a measure to dignify [their] situation. But also for the government, it's a good measure, because these people now can pay taxes."

Wendy Solorzano, who’s 42 years old and a single mother from Honduras, hopes to qualify. She has a teenage son and a baby with cerebral palsy who needs therapy and special equipment that's unavailable to the family in their home country.

People with Central and South American passports don’t need a visa to come to Spain as tourists. As in Solorzano’s case, they often arrive legally at airports but remain past the 90-day period for visitors.

She acknowledges the burden her needs put on Spanish social services but says she can make an important contribution to her new home.

"I'm a teacher and I can also help the Spanish people to get my knowledge, as an [English] teacher," she said in an interview. "I can be a good person here."

Support for the "extraordinary regularization" program is far from universal, though.

The opposition People’s Party has accused the Spanish government of trying to stack future elections by creating a generation of potentially grateful voters. It also claims the taxes new residents will pay won’t come close to offsetting the cost of the government services they will consume.

The far-right Vox party is even more strident, warning the policy amounts to an invitation for more people to ignore Spain’s border controls and show up illegally. 

In fact, this is the seventh time in 40 years that Spain’s government has offered a version of the same policy. While the current Sanchez government is socialist, parties on both the political left and right have adopted the mass regularization of migrants in the past.

"What is not good is that we are repeating this many, many times, because we are allowing economic sectors to depend very much on low-paid workers," he said. "And those sectors are growing."

Puig says this has the effect of suppressing the country’s average wages and overall productivity, creating an unbalanced economy. 

While other European countries have made it easier for specific groups of migrants — such as workers in the agricultural sector — to become legal residents, in the current political climate, Spain is a notable outlier for the scope and frequency of its "normalization" efforts.

The ideological outlook in the United Kingdom toward migrants is the polar opposite.  

Whereas Spain sees economic opportunity in letting illegal migrants become residents, successive recent governments in Britain have taken steps to make the country as unappealing to migrants as possible.

The U.K. Is fast-tracking deportations and in the process of making it even harder for long-term residents to obtain permanent residency.

One of the major differences between Spain, Britain and other European countries is that the majority of those applying under the Spanish legalization scheme are from South or Central America, especially Peru and Colombia.  

They share the Spanish language and Roman Catholic religion, arguably making integration easier. In 2025, roughly 70 per cent of Spanish asylum seekers came from Latin America.

Whereas the U.K. Home Office says heavily Muslim nations — including Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sudan — now make up almost half of all British asylum claims.   

Some of those, such as migrants from Sudan and other African nations, often attempt to cross the English Channel and enter the country by boat, while other claimants arrive by plane and overstay their visas.

Of late, anti-Muslim sentiment has been a strong influence on British immigration policy. Right-wing rhetoric has fanned concerns about social cohesion and anxiety over integrating Muslim populations. A 2025 YouGov poll reported that 41 per cent of the British public explicitly believes Muslim immigrants have a negative impact on the country. 

New EU-wide rules to fast-track case processing, track asylum seekers and speed up deportations were set to come into effect on Friday, although it's unclear how many of the 27 member states were in a position to begin implementing them. 

Whether the Pope’s intervention on the migrant issue can change minds — and government policy across Europe — is debatable. 

"I think that it's important that someone is reminding us that in all our societies, we are the result of 2,000 years of migrations," he said. 

"This is not going to close the debate or totally condition the debate, but it's providing a more open-minded and a more human-based debate, which I think is important."

Foreign correspondent

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