The Popular Parliamentary Group defended this Wednesday in the Senate Plenary its bill to modify the tenth additional provision of the Immigration Law and “shield border rejection,” a process that will go ahead thanks to the absolute majority of the popular party in the Upper House.
The initiative seeks to reinforce the special rejection regime in Ceuta and Melilla, so that it can be applied to any irregular entry attempt, including those that occur by swimming. PP Senator Alicia García defended that the reform aims to provide a “quick, safe, and fully guaranteed” mechanism to restore normality to a Ceuta, which, she said, has been “abandoned by the Government of Pedro Sánchez.”
“The reality of this reform is to approve a quick, safe, and fully guaranteed mechanism for the rejection of irregular immigrants who try to illegally access Ceuta and Melilla. To restore normality to a Ceuta abandoned by the Government of Pedro Sánchez, so that it is impossible for an avalanche like that of July 30 and 31 to happen again in the future,” the popular senator pointed out.
The PP appeals to the Supreme Court ruling and border security
During the debate on taking into consideration, Alicia García maintained that the special rejection regime must be applied “both on land and at sea” and warned that the Supreme Court ruling “was the pretext for the avalanche.” “There are no reasons not to vote in favor, if you vote for it, the excuse ends,” she affirmed.
The reform proposal responds to Supreme Court ruling 814/2026, of June 29, which limited border rejection to cases where border containment elements are overcome, in literal application of the current norm. The PP wants to ensure that the regime also covers attempts to enter by swimming in both autonomous cities, as, she defended, occurred massively on July 30 and 31 in Ceuta.
In her speech, García recalled that the current law “today allows border rejection to anyone who tries to overcome border containment elements” and added: “The Supreme Court has read it literally, ‘without a fence there is no rule and the sea is not a fence,’ but Spain does not end where a fence ends, Spain reaches its last border line, on land and at sea.”
In the same vein, PP Senator Cristina Díaz Moreno warned that “the next invasion could be even worse,” because, in her opinion, “it could overwhelm Ceuta or Melilla to the point of making normal life impossible and endangering the safety of citizens.” “The State has an obligation to protect its borders,” she stressed.
The PSOE defends that the current norm is already sufficient
For the Socialist Parliamentary Group, the regulatory framework, as set out in the tenth additional provision of the Immigration Law, “is sufficient and also effective.” Senator Inmaculada Sánchez maintained that the current wording also has the endorsement of the Constitutional Court.
“They seek to make people think that if legal security measures are taken, a solution to this problem can be found, and they know that this is not the case, because in these cases there is also a procedure for carrying out returns that, although exceptional, must also be complied with,” she explained.
Sánchez also stated that “Spain’s borders are secure” and added: “So secure that Spain is the country in the south of the European Union with the fewest irregular entries between 2021 and 2026, according to Frontex.”
For his part, Socialist Senator Alfonso Gil rejected that the massive entry of migrants into Ceuta was an invasion. “Do you believe that with such powerful weapons as floats they wanted to harm us?” he asked the PP.
“They flee from something more powerful, hunger. These people have rights, international law protects them. The far right is no longer Vox, you are the most extreme doing politics in this country,” Gil reproached.
Junts and the PNV distance themselves, Vox calls for a tougher policy
Junts also rejected the processing of the PP’s bill. Senator Joan Baptista stated: “We do not want to participate in this usual ‘pim pam pum’ that has been happening since the beginning of this Legislature. In Junts we have a humanist tradition and, therefore, we are not going to support populist and extremist positions, no matter how fashionable they may become.”
PNV Senator Nerea Ahedo expressed her “disagreement with postulates that criminalize migrants,” and rejected messages that, in her opinion, pit rights between the native population and the arrival of migrant people. “Don’t be fooled, let no one be fooled. One thing is the Supreme Court ruling and another is the massive entry, they do not have a direct cause-effect relationship. So, please, don’t try to deceive,” she asked.
On the other hand, Vox Senator María Pastor defended that a reform is being debated that, in her opinion, would not be necessary if Spain had “forceful” migratory legislation and border policy. “Spain has borders, borders are defended, and whoever tries to enter Spain illegally must be immediately returned to their country and the law cannot distinguish under any concept who tries to enter illegally by jumping a fence and who tries to do so by swimming, because the sea becomes a sieve,” she pointed out.
Pastor insisted that whoever “invades Spain must go back to their country” and warned that not immediately returning those who assault the borders favors, she said, “the pull effect.”