adminSpain is providing America with a warning – and we would be foolish to ignore it.
About 60,000 migrants illegally crossed from Morocco into the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta over a massive two-day span between July 29 and July 30.
The situation became so serious that Spain deployed additional police officers and military personnel to restore order. Local facilities were overwhelmed, businesses closed, and public officials pleaded for emergency assistance.
This did not happen by accident.
Spain’s Socialist-led government recently approved a program granting legal residency and work authorization to migrants who had been living in the country illegally. Spain’s leaders call this process “regularization,” another word for amnesty.
Whatever terminology politicians use, the message was unmistakable: enter the country illegally, remain long enough, and political leaders may eventually legalize your presence.
Incentives Produce Consequences
When a country demonstrates that its immigration laws will not be consistently enforced, more people will test those laws. When illegal entry is followed by work authorization or legal status, others become incentivized to make the same journey. When deportation becomes politically unacceptable, migrants and smuggling organizations become even more emboldened.
Compassion without boundaries is not sustainable. A nation that loses control of its borders eventually loses the ability to determine whom it admits, how many it admits, and whether newcomers can be responsibly assimilated into its civic culture.
The Same Ideology Is Being Promoted in Texas
Texas voters should pay close attention to Democratic candidate James Talarico’s position on immigration because it closely resembles the policy Spain adopted.
Talarico supports creating a pathway to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants. He also favors allowing some recent illegal arrivals to receive temporary work authorization.
Although Talarico may claim that he opposes illegal immigration, he also opposes deporting broad categories of people who entered the country illegally or remained after their legal status expired. Instead, he supports granting some of them work permits, legal status, and eventually citizenship.
In practical terms, this amounts to the same type of amnesty implemented in Spain, regardless of the softer language used to promote it. Were Talarico elected, Texas could once again face a surge of illegal immigration similar to what the state experienced during Joe Biden’s presidency.
An Attack on Western Civilization
Mass illegal immigration has become part of a broader ideological attack on the foundations of Western civilization: Christianity, national sovereignty, the rule of law, and the expectation that newcomers assimilate into the nation they have entered.
The attack comes from political leaders and ideological movements that deny a country’s right to defend its borders or preserve its cultural identity. They intentionally portray enforcement as hatred, deportation as oppression, and national sovereignty as an outdated obstacle to global humanitarianism.
But a border that cannot be enforced is not a border. And citizenship that carries no distinction from illegal residence gradually loses its meaning.
America Must Choose Differently
Spain’s experience should remind Americans that elections have consequences.
We must elect conservatives who will uphold immigration laws – not merely campaign on border security and then surrender when enforcement becomes politically difficult. We need leaders who will secure the border, close asylum loopholes, oppose mass amnesty, and remove those who have no legal right to remain.
Spain is showing us what happens when political leaders erase the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. America should not repeat that mistake.
But avoiding it will require voters to look beyond compassionate-sounding rhetoric and examine what candidates actually propose.
When a politician promises legalization, restricts deportations, and rewards unlawful presence, the eventual result should not surprise us.
Spain’s border chaos is America’s warning. We must heed it before the same torrent reaches our borders and before the political will to stop it disappears.
Author: Joseph Vargas