According to Eurostat data, Spain executes an average of between 2,000 and 3,500 deportations per year—a symbolic figure compared to the volume of arrivals. In 2023, Spain issued 64,260 deportation orders to irregular migrants, the highest number in the last decade. Of these, only 3,090 were carried out. In 2024, the trend persisted: with approximately 55,000 orders issued, only around 3,000 were executed. In both cases, the success rate was below 6%.
While under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the figure reached 80,000 and under Mariano Rajoy it was 47,000, under the current Executive, the number barely touches 20,000. While the EU demands firmness, in Sánchez’s Spain, barely 9% of the issued deportation orders are executed. It is an absolute divorce between administrative regulations and their material enforcement. This anomalous migration policy of Pedro Sánchez’s government has become a constant source of tension with our European partners, as explained by the newspaper El Español.
At a time when the continent is pivoting toward more restrictive and secure border management, Madrid maintains a line that Brussels observes with growing suspicion. Under the recent European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum, the twenty-seven member states voted in favor of intensifying the return of irregular migrants. The goal is to provide credibility to the migration system through accelerated border procedures and a much more effective deportation policy. Brussels understands that without effective returns, the asylum system collapses and the “pull factor” multiplies. However, this community ambition clashes head-on with the reality in Spain.
