State Attorney rejects "automatic" legalisation claims as Madrid and Vox move to freeze decree over public service fears
Añádenos en Google The president of the SC, Carlos Lesmes, together with the magistrates Fernando Román and Wenceslao Francisco Olea during one of the hearings. (Efe) 22/05/2026 a las 15:07h.The Spanish government has revealed that 549,596 applications have been submitted for the migrant regularisation process since it launched in April.
During a ... hearing at the Supreme Court today (May 22), the State Attorney’s Office confirmed that only 91,505 of these petitions have been admitted for processing so far, following rigorous security and documentation checks.
The figures were released as the court weighs requests from the Community of Madrid, Vox, and civil groups to immediately suspend the decree. Opponents argue the measure will cause an "irreparable" collapse of regional health services and job centres, particularly in Madrid, where officials estimate 250,000 people could settle.
As the government's representative emphasised, each of the 91,505 applications provisionally accepted to date has previously undergone a rigorous security and documentation 'check' to verify that they meet each of the requirements set out in the regulations approved a month ago by the Council of Ministers.
Despite the evidence presented by the State Legal Service and the arguments put forward by the defence, the plaintiffs remain optimistic that they will be able to halt the regularisation of migrants, the deadline for which expires on 30 June, following the round of submissions.
The day's proceedings were opened by Hazte Oír, whose lawyer, Javier María Pérez-Roldán, spoke of the 'irreparable harm' that would result from failing to suspend the measure before the deadline expires, according to sources from the organisation.
On leaving the High Court, representatives of the civil society platform argued that government representatives "did not address the substance of the matter" in some of the hearings, which, in their view, indicates an "implicit acknowledgement" that the plaintiffs are correct in their constitutional warnings.
They also emphasised "the danger posed by a failure to suspend the measure, given that if the merits of the appeal were not subsequently recognised, the suspension would lose its meaning".
Madrid against the government
The regional government of Madrid began its statement by asserting that the measure "is unprecedented in our recent history". They estimated that at least 250,000 people could benefit from the measure in its region, bringing the total nationwide figure to between half a million and 750,000 applicants.
With these figures , the Executive led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso denied that the initiative had no budgetary impact and warned of an imminent "collapse" in regional health services due to the issuing of health cards, the impact on waiting lists and the fear that 90,000 people would overwhelm job centres.
It therefore asked the Chamber to suspend the "immediate effect" of the concessions so that a subsequent favourable ruling by the Supreme Court would not be impossible to reverse.
However, the central government insisted that "the requirements for a suspension have not been met" and argued that "the harm caused by postponement outweighs the alleged interest", which it described as "merely abstract".
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The State's legal services cited the applicants' "vulnerable situation", the challenge of social integration and the "significant effects on the Spanish economy". Furthermore, the State's lawyer sought to dispel any suspicion of electoral manipulation, as claimed by the Community of Madrid and Vox, regarding the measure ahead of the upcoming general election, arguing that "under no circumstances will any of these individuals be able to vote".
Vox criticism
Vox criticised the Sánchez government for sidestepping parliamentary debate on a measure with profound long-term consequences, specifically regarding future Spanish citizenship. The party's council warned of a "drastic and unjustified increase in social spending," dismissing the government's claim that the plan is cost-neutral. He argued that moving this population from "basic services" to full public coverage would strain national resources, questioning the "unjustified urgency" of the decree.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the requested stay in the coming days. The regularisation process is already underway, seeing over 200,000 applications in its first two weeks. Pressure on the Court continues to mount as the Balearic Islands joined the appeal for provisional suspension this Friday.
Like the Madrid regional government, it bases its arguments on the fact that, in its view, the legislation was not subject to consensus among the autonomous communities, parliamentary debate or an assessment of its budgetary impact.
However, whatever the outcome of the hearings held today, this is not the Supreme Court's first ruling on the regularisation of migrants. A few weeks ago, the high court rejected an urgent interim order requested by the association for reconciliation and historical truth to halt the regularisation process, as it did not consider there to be sufficient evidence of any particular urgency to do so.