Vox backtracks on deporting 8 million but lists foreigners to expel from Spain

Vox head Santiago Abascal has shrugged off the words of party spokesperson Rocío de Meer who on Monday said the far-right group wants to deport "8 million people" because in his words they “simply don’t know” how many migrants there actually are in Spain.

READ MORE: Vox proposes deporting more foreigners than there are actually living in Spain

Figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute show that there are currently 6.9 million foreigners residing in Spain, less than the 8 million named by De Meer, but a closer look at her words and the party’s nativist rhetoric clarify that she was also probably counting foreigners who’ve acquired Spanish citizenship, as Vox doesn’t consider them to be truly Spanish.

In fact, one of their new official policies is an audit of the Spanish citizenship acquisition of naturalised foreigners.

Abascal has referred to what’s been published in the Spanish press as "lies", even though only a week ago Vox officially included in its party manifesto the “mass deportation” of migrants, on this occasion focusing just on previously undocumented migrants who’d acquired Spanish residency (around one million people).

The face of far-right politics in Spain then clarified that Vox intends to expel all foreigners who have come "to commit crimes" or "to live off the efforts of others," or who seek to impose a "strange" religion on Catholic Spain, or who "mistreat or belittle women," as well as all unaccompanied minors as "they must be with their parents."

"We don't know how many there are. We'll know when we come to power. And they'll all leave," Abascal, a self-declared fan of Donald Trump and close ally of France’s Marine Le Pen and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, went on to say.

Rocío de Meer, whose words have been overwhelmingly ridiculed in Spain, has since sent out a video on social media in which she said "LIES! I haven't said we had to expel 8 million. We have to expel however many necessary so that not one single more Spanish family has to cry over the fact that we didn't".

During her speech on Monday, she stated "we're witnessing how millions and millions of people have arrived since the 1990s spurred on by the two-party system. Of the 47 million people our country has, 7 million - more than 7 million because we have to factor in the second generation - 8 million people of different origins who have arrived in a short period of time which makes it very hard for them to adapt to our habits and customs."

She then went on to say: "Therefore all these millions of people who’ve come to our country in a short period of time and haven’t adapted to our customs and in many cases have been at the centre of scenes of insecurity in our neighbourhoods and surroundings will have to return to their countries."

READ ALSO: What a Vox government could mean for foreigners in Spain

De Meer’s grandfather, Carlos de Meer, was the last Francoist leader of the Balearic Islands and even wrote a biography of Spain’s fascist dictator.

Another Vox spokesperson, Pepa Millán, has also defended De Meer's words by claiming they were "an approximate estimate" of the number of immigrants in Spain since the 1990s. Nevertheless, she did stand firm on Vox’s proposal to deport all illegal immigrants, all immigrants who commit crimes, and all those who do not "integrate".

"We want to remain Spain," she concluded.

One more Vox spokesperson, José Antonio Fúster, also spoke out on the matter, stating that illegal immigrants or those who commit crimes will be expelled.

"We don't hate anyone; what we have is an immense love for the Spanish people. We must be able to choose who lives with us," Fúster said.

Vox’s hyperbolic promises will no doubt have been welcomed by Spain’s scandal-hit ruling Socialists, who know that the mass deportation claims will alienate many voters in the centre who could be considering voting for the Popular Party but fear a possible alliance with Vox.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez published on X a message which read "Spain was for decades a land of departure, of effort beyond our borders. Today it is a land that welcomes others, and those who arrive contribute their efforts to building a better Spain. Let’s not forget where we come from in order to understand who we are."

Spain’s Socialist Education Minister Pilar Alegría has also said migrants who have come to Spain to work in search of a better future should "not be afraid" of "Vox's xenophobic delirium", stating that "what Vox is proposing is not going to happen."

Alegría said that their interest in carrying out mass deportations reflects "what they are," a "racist" and "xenophobic" party, and that the opposition PP should not be willing to normalise and whitewash its "xenophobic delirium" in order to govern.

As expected, the Popular Party has distanced itself from Vox’s stance on immigration through its new secretary general Miguel Tellado, who stated that his centre-right party is "in favour of orderly immigration, against illegal immigration," but that Spain must be "a welcoming country" for all people who want to "develop their life plans in our country" and "needs immigration to be a viable social and economic project".