The picture that shows the folly of Spain’s socialist experiment to grant amnesty to 500,000 illegal migrants – at least: IAN GALLAGHER

A small matter like the pointed embassy wall would never stand in their way. In the eyes of this desperate young African man, this was not possible when the 3 meter high wall represented the last obstacle between them and staying in Europe.

After all, they had overcome a more difficult obstacle only months before. So the dangerous Atlantic.

And so, just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, to sporadic cheers and applause, dozens of migrants occupied the Gambian Embassy in Madrid’s quiet residential neighborhood of La Concepcion.

Some climbed the wall with the ease of gymnasts and jumped into the courtyard; This courtyard literally placed them not in Europe but in a small corner of their own West African country. It doesn’t matter.

A young man named Bakary would later complain both that he had broken his finger on the wall and, more bitterly, that he had been turned away from Seville without the papers he needed to pay his train fare and legitimize his life in Spain.

Riot police were called and peace was quickly restored without arrest. Everyone took their places and an orderly queue formed.

If Bakary appealed to sympathy for his plight, he found it inadequate on tree-lined Hernandez Iglesias Avenue, where residents watched the spectacular spectacle at the terracotta-roofed embassy with a mixture of admiration and mild disgust.

‘Everyone is fed up with the way bureaucracy works,’ said Anna, an architectural engineer who took her daughter to school. ‘But these immigrants won the lottery. All they have to do is wait patiently for the reward instead of acting crazy. Normally we do not see any activity at this embassy. ‘This is too bad.’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a press conference at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid

The ‘reward’ he was referring to was socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s controversial immigration amnesty.

Because Sanchez is granting residence permits to half a million illegal and undocumented foreigners, a generous move that has sparked reactions here. He insists this will boost the economy and make Spain a happy place to live for everyone, regardless of ethnicity.

That’s the plan.

The amnesty will be in effect from April 17 to June 30 after Mr. Sanchez signed it into law by decree, bypassing a vote in parliament. It offers a one-year renewable residence permit to people who can prove they have been in Spain for five months and have a clean criminal record.

This was the paperwork Bakary and his friends were after on Tuesday; But they were left frustrated after queuing from the early hours when they were told they had no other appointments that day.

For many Spaniards, the occupation of the Gambian Embassy was a vivid expression of an impractical plan.

Miguel Angel García Martin, spokesman for the Madrid regional government, said: ‘We are concerned because we are giving the image of a country in complete chaos, a regulatory process that was flawed from the beginning.’ He added that the debate ‘goes beyond the services of many municipalities’.

Meanwhile, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of Spain’s conservative People’s Party, said the plan was given as a reward for the socialists’ ‘illegality’.

Immigrants line up in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter to get help with immigration regulation documents and procedures, encouraged by the Spanish government

As police thwarted the embassy attack, reports surfaced of further problems further afield as thousands rushed to complete paperwork.

Police struggled to contain a mass brawl among migrants queuing in Murcia on the southeast coast, with authorities blaming the chaos on an overloaded system. “We’ve been waiting for this and now we’re starting to see the first problems,” a police spokesman said.

It was also reported that hundreds of immigrants may have obtained legal status without providing a criminal record certificate because officials handling their applications used a training manual that contained errors.

Meanwhile, municipal unions in Seville warned that ‘extraordinary pressure’ and overcrowding were creating high tensions between staff and the public.

Unions are demanding more staff, more security and compensation for workers forced to confront the chaos.

‘We increased from 1,500 applications per day to 5,500 in social service centres. “I think it was a hasty decision, perhaps even aimed at creating a collapse,” union representative Jose Fernandez said.

Explaining that Mr Sanchez’s policy was initiated ‘without consulting the relevant authorities’, he added: ‘The best course of action would be to withdraw this decree and implement it by consensus.’

The pardon divided opinion generally; Many inevitably concluded that Spain would now attract even more immigrants.

People queue overnight in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter before the opening of citizenship services offices to get help with immigration legalization procedures

Spain stands alone in accepting immigrants with open arms; Other frontline countries are trying to stop the endless flow into Europe from North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

The country faces a record number of 63,000 illegal immigrants in 2024; most of these reached the Spanish-owned Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza).

Some of the new arrivals come from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries such as Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Currently, approximately one-fifth of the country’s 49 million population was born abroad.

But while Spanish people have traditionally taken a liberal approach to incoming people, 57 per cent believe there is currently ‘too much’ immigration, according to a poll commissioned by left-wing newspaper El Pais.

As Mr. Sanchez lowers his drawbridge, other European countries are pulling up theirs, exploring and implementing increasingly drastic measures to combat the influx of migrants.

France deploys more than 1,200 gendarmes on its coasts seven days a week to deter migrants; This measure is partly funded by the UK Government.

Last year, a UK-French agreement came into force under which anyone entering the UK on a small boat could be detained and sent back to France; This is called the ‘one in, one out’ plan.

This is separate from the latest £662 million three-year deal with French authorities, which was aimed at stopping migrants in France from boarding small boats in the first place.

Spanish people have traditionally adopted a liberal approach towards arrivals.

Asylum seekers in Italy face limited access to reception services such as food, accommodation, legal aid and healthcare if they submit their applications more than 90 days after arriving in the country. The high number of immigrants coming to Italy, where 158 thousand 610 people sought asylum last year, also increased the popularity of far-right parties in the country.

In Greece, the parliament passed a law last September that toughened penalties for rejected asylum seekers and accelerated their return to their home countries.

None of this matters a jot to Mr Sanchez, who is enjoying his extraordinary fame and is in favor of an amnesty to salvage his scandal-plagued premiership before elections next year.

‘Some say we’re going too far, going against the tide,’ Mr Sanchez said. ‘But I want to ask you, when did recognizing rights become a radical thing? ‘When did empathy become paramount?’

His allies claim that the policy is liked by their European counterparts, who are unable to take similar steps because immigration is so politically toxic.

They state that those offered the deal are already working in Spain and will start paying social security premiums as well as taxes once it is legalized. Thus, it is said that they will benefit the economy.

Critics argue that even if this is true, there are more pressing issues to consider.

As the EU seeks to tighten borders amid criticism from Donald Trump’s US administration, some have warned that those lucky enough to get a seat will not stay in Spain and flee to the rest of Europe.

In Spain, about 2.3 million of the country’s 9.4 million foreign-born residents arrived in the two years before 2025.

Concerned about the future consequences of free movement, EU officials have warned that the amnesty is not a ‘blank cheque’ for living in other EU countries, at a time when concerns are growing about the feasibility of free movement.

The European Parliament, which has hardened its stance on immigration, voted to stop ‘asylum shopping’.

This is a cynical practice where the migrant chooses where he wants to claim refugee status, rather than seeking asylum in the first EU country he enters. The bloc plans to transfer these “useless” opportunists to their own countries or to third countries outside the EU that “meet international standards”; options include Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia.

However, immigrant traffic in Spain is one-way. About 2.3 million of the country’s 9.4 million foreign-born people arrived in the two years before 2025.

The People’s Party, which has recently made immigration a key policy with the aim of coming back to power in next year’s general elections, described the rise as ‘unsustainable’.

It is also stated that the number of asylum applications has increased by 167 percent since Sanchez came to power in 2018.

During the same period, the number of deportations of illegal immigrants decreased by 5 percent.

Although the government says about 500,000 immigrants could gain legal status under the program, the Spanish police unit that deals with foreigners estimates that 1.35 million immigrants could apply for regulation.

“It’s no surprise we were hit by the battery,” a police source told the Daily Mail yesterday. ‘Or tensions start to rise. ‘These people have the chance of a lifetime in front of them and they are desperate to take it.’

The day after the embassy occupation, all was quiet on Hernandez Iglesias Street. The blue-white tape, spinning in the light breeze, called on immigrants ‘not to cross the police line’.

‘It’s quiet for now,’ said a man walking his dog, ‘but let’s see how long it lasts.’