From Teruel to El Ejido, passing through Mallorca, the far-right Vox has dedicated the last 24 hours to defending the expulsion of immigrants as one of its great promises for the general elections on November 29. Santiago Abascal and MEP Jorge Buxadé on Thursday advocated for "remigration" and "national priority." This Friday, the candidate for Almería, Rocío de Meer, has taken the message to waiting rooms and emergency departments to promise that Spaniards will stop being "the last in line."
In Teruel, Abascal called for the repatriation of people in irregular situations, the deportation of foreigners who commit crimes, and the application of "remigration" to those who, according to him, collect aid that Spaniards need. In the same event, the Vice President of the Government of Aragon, Alejandro Nolasco, boasted of having transferred the so-called "national priority" to calls for aid to families and defended extending it to housing. In Palmanova, Buxadé demanded "deporting as if there were no tomorrow" and proposed restricting access to benefits to favor the departure of foreigners.
The promise has concrete limits. The Immigration Law requires a file and a reasoned resolution for the expulsions regulated by its article 57, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits collective expulsions. Receiving a benefit to which one is entitled is not among the causes of expulsion provided for in that article.
The figures versus the narrative of "invasion"
De Meer has assured that since Pedro Sánchez came to power, 7.8 million immigrants have entered Spain, without identifying the source or explaining what is included in that calculation. She has used this figure to speak of a "migratory invasion." The National Institute of Statistics (INE) counts changes of residence to and from abroad, while the Ministry of Interior separately registers detected irregular arrivals. In the latest balance, up to October 31, the Ministry of Interior counted 32,942 irregular entries, 8.9% more than in the same period of 2025, not including arrivals to Ceuta on July 30 and 31. These are different counts.
The waiting lists cited by De Meer do have figures. At the close of 2025, Andalusia registered an average wait of 136 days for a first consultation with a specialist, compared to the national average of 102. The organization and planning of Andalusian health services correspond to the Junta. The Vox candidate has not provided data linking this delay to immigration.
And in the same municipality that Vox has chosen for its appearance, more than half of the contracts registered in 2025 were signed with people of foreign nationality. There were 22,424 contracts in El Ejido, according to the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia. In Spain as a whole, Social Security closed October with nearly 3.7 million foreign affiliates, 16.4% of the total and almost 600,000 more than a year earlier.
The ideologue of expulsions looks to Spain
The term that Vox has made the focus of its pre-campaign has a history in the European far-right. One of its main promoters, the Austrian Martin Sellner, has announced in an interview with 'El País' that he wants to open a branch of his Institute for Remigration in Spain. His proposal includes revoking the citizenship of naturalized people whom he considers insufficiently assimilated.
Sellner assures that he maintains contacts with Vox, although he does not identify his interlocutors. He does point out that De Meer participated in May in the summit he organized in Porto. He is now preparing a report that he wants to share with Spanish parties and in which he proposes expulsions aimed mainly at people of African and Latin American origin.
