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Spain\u2019s prime minister has pushed back against critics of plans to regularise 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, asserting that Spain<\/a> was choosing the path of \u201cdignity, community and justice\u201d.<\/p>\n The 46-second video, which features Pedro S\u00e1nchez speaking in English with subtitles in Spanish, was posted on social media<\/a> at the weekend. \u201cSome say we\u2019ve gone too far, that we\u2019re going against the current,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I would like to ask you, when did recognising rights become something radical? When did empathy become something exceptional?\u201d<\/p>\n It comes days after the Socialist-led coalition government approved a decree <\/a>that it said would regularise half a million people.<\/a> The initiative, expected to come into effect in April, made headlines around the world for its rejection of the anti-migration policies and rhetoric seen across much of Europe and the US.<\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez said the plans would offer an orderly path to residence for those whose lives were already woven into Spain\u2019s social fabric. \u201cHalf a million people we live with every day, at the market, on the bus, at our children\u2019s school. People who care for our parents, work in the fields, who have built, hand in hand with us, the progress of our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSpain is above all a welcoming country, and this is the path we choose: dignity, community and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Its roots lie in a citizens\u2019 initiative, signed by more than 700,000 people<\/a> and backed by much of the Catholic church and about 900 social organisations, presented to parliament in 2024. The initiative had languished for months until the leftwing Podemos party said last week that it had struck a deal with the Socialists to approve the plans in exchange for parliamentary support.<\/p>\n The video, which has racked up millions of views, has seen some brand S\u00e1nchez the \u201canti-Trump\u201d<\/a> for taking a strong pro-migration stance. Political scientist Pablo Sim\u00f3n said the prime minister \u2013 who relies on an unwieldy assortment<\/a> of parties to push through legislation \u2013 was responding to both domestic and global pressures.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, S\u00e1nchez is in a very difficult position internally, but he also knows the only way he can survive is by shifting to more leftwing positions that will allow him to absorb the electorate of the smaller parties,\u201d said Sim\u00f3n, a professor of political science at Madrid\u2019s Carlos III University.<\/p>\n In recent months, S\u00e1nchez has consistently tacked to the left on issues such as the war in Gaza<\/a> and Trump\u2019s push for increased defence spending.<\/a> On migration it has been the same, with S\u00e1nchez embracing openness<\/a> while others in Europe hardened their stances<\/a> in response to pressure from the far-right.<\/p>\n