INTERNACIONAL
Spain legalizes up to 500,000 undocumented migrants, sparking backlash
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As the United States experiences negative net migration due to President Donald Trump policies, Spain is heading in the opposite direction, announcing plans to grant legal status for up to half a million illegal migrants.
Spain’s Socialist-led government approved a royal decree on Tuesday, allowing unauthorized immigrants who entered the country before the end of 2025, and have lived there for at least five months and have no criminal record to obtain one-year residency and work permits, with possible pathways to citizenship.
While many European governments have moved to tighten immigration policies — some encouraged by the Trump administration’s hardline approach — Spain has taken a different path. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ministers have repeatedly highlighted what they describe as the economic benefits of legal migration, particularly for the country’s aging workforce.
WHITE HOUSE ROADMAP SAYS EUROPE MAY BE ‘UNRECOGNIZABLE’ IN 20 YEARS AS MIGRATION RAISES DOUBTS ABOUT US ALLIES
Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Maria Jesus Montero and Spain’s second Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz at the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, Spain, Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Spain «will not look the other way,» Migration Minister Elma Saiz told reporters at a press conference, saying the government is «dignifying and recognizing people who are already in our country.»
The plan has sparked a fierce political battle, as conservatives and the populist Vox party have condemned what they describe as an amnesty that could fuel irregular migration.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on social media that the measure «harms all Spaniards,» arguing critics of his party are motivated by fear of Vox’s growing influence. «They are not worried about the consequences of Sánchez’s criminal policies,» Abascal wrote. «They are worried that Vox will gain more strength.»
Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that «Spain’s decision appears calculated to increase the lure of Europe as a destination for illegal migrants in general, causing problems for all of its neighbors. If Spain wishes to become a repository for such people, then I’m sure other European countries would appreciate signing agreements to transfer their own illegal migrants there. Absent this, we will all be paying the price for Spanish largesse.»
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A migrant walks by a makeshift settlement where migrants evicted from a former high school last week are camping outdoors in the middle of winter in Badalona, Spain, Dec. 26, 2025. (Bruna Casas/Reuters)
Ricard Zapata-Barrero, a political science professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, told Fox News Digital that «This is not a symbolic gesture, It is a direct challenge to the dominant European approach, which treats irregular migration primarily as a policing issue. Spain, instead, frames it as a governance problem — one that requires institutional capacity, legal pathways and administrative realism rather than more detention centers and externalized borders.»
Migrants in Madrid, Spain, on April 9, 2024. (Francesco Militello Mirto/Nur Photo via Getty Images))
He said Spain’s immigration system had been showing signs of strain for years.
«When hundreds of thousands of people live in irregularity for years, the issue stops being an individual failure and becomes a structural one,» Zapata-Barrero said. «In this context, regularization is not leniency — it is governability.»
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Migrants wait to disembark at the port of Arguineguin after being rescued by a Spanish Coast Guard vessel, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, Nov. 14, 2025. (Borja Suarez / Reuters)
He argued, «In a Europe closing in on itself, Spain has taken a step that sets it apart — not because it is ‘softer,’ but because it is more pragmatic,» he added. «Whether this becomes a model or a counter-model inside the EU remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Spain has launched a political experiment that Europe will watch closely.»
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
spain,europe,immigration,illegal immigrants,immigrant rights
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A photo showing Zohran Mamdani at a high-profile luncheon tied to longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Peggy Siegal has emerged following the release of newly unsealed Justice Department records that also reference his mother, Mira Nair.
The photo, taken Nov. 15, 2017, shows the now-New York City mayor smiling at the Universal Pictures «Get Out» Peggy Siegal luncheon at Lincoln Ristorante in Manhattan.
The event was hosted by Siegal, a once-powerful Hollywood publicist who later faced industry backlash over her deep social ties to Epstein.
Siegal was never charged with a crime.
EPSTEIN FILE RELEASE FEATURES PHOTOS OF MICK JAGGER, MICHAEL JACKSON, DIANA ROSS AND MORE STARS
(L-R) Zohran Mamdani, Daniel Kaluuya, Mira Nair and Shimit Amin attend Universal Pictures’ «Get Out» Peggy Siegal Luncheon at Lincoln Ristorante on November 15, 2017, in New York City. (Owen Hoffmann/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
The image surfaced days after filmmaker Nair was named in a newly released tranche of documents connected to Epstein and his convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The records, made public Jan. 30, 2026, are part of a broader release of millions of pages detailing Epstein’s social and professional network. The documents do not allege criminal wrongdoing by those mentioned.
In a 2009 email included in the release, Siegal wrote to Epstein about an after-party for the film Amelia, which Nair had directed.
The message states the gathering took place at Maxwell’s Manhattan townhouse and lists attendees including former President Bill Clinton, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Nair.
The correspondence documents attendance only and does not allege misconduct by those named.
NEW EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS INCLUDE PHOTOS OF BILL CLINTON TOPLESS IN HOT TUB, SOCIALIZING WITH MICHAEL JACKSON
(L-R) Jason Blum, Allison Williams, Jordan Peele, Daniel Kaluuya, Sean McKittrick and Peggy Siegal attend Universal Pictures’ «Get Out» Peggy Siegal Luncheon at Lincoln Ristorante on November 15, 2017, in New York City. (Owen Hoffmann/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In the 2017 luncheon photo, Mamdani appears alongside actor Daniel Kaluuya, filmmaker Shimit Amin and Nair as they celebrated Jordan Peele’s movie, «Get Out,» which won the Academy Award for best original screenplay.
A second image from the same event shows Peele, producer Jason Blum, Allison Williams and Siegal, highlighting the luncheon’s prominence during Hollywood’s awards season.
Another photo from December 2016 also shows Nair attending a private-residence film event with Siegal for «Queen of Katwe.»
CLINTON TEAM DEMANDS TRUMP DOJ RELEASE ‘ANY REMAINING’ DOCS RELATED TO FORMER PRESIDENT, EPSTEIN
(L-R) Peggy Siegal, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Mira Nair, David Oyelowo and Zoe Oyelowo attend Barbara Broccoli and Walt Disney Studios Host a Screening and Reception for «Queen of Katwe» with Mira Nair and David Oyelowo at Private Residence on December 5, 2016, in New York City. (Aurora Rose/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
At the time, Siegal was a dominant figure in entertainment publicity, known for her access to major studios, A-list talent and industry power brokers.
In 2019, following reporting that detailed her association with Epstein, multiple Hollywood studios, including Netflix, FX and Annapurna Pictures, cut ties with her, according to Variety.
Epstein was first arrested in Florida in 2006 on charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.
GIANTS CO-OWNER STEVE TISCH RESPONDS AFTER EMAILS BETWEEN HIM AND JEFFREY EPSTEIN INCLUDED IN LATEST DOJ DROP
The Department of Justice has released millions of Epstein documents after President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
He later pleaded guilty, served 13 months in jail with work release and registered as a sex offender.
He died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence following her conviction for sex trafficking.
Nair, an internationally respected director known for films including Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake and Queen of Katwe, has long been a fixture in elite film circles, especially in Manhattan.
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She is married to academic Mahmood Mamdani.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Zohran Mamdani’s office and Peggy Siegal for comment.
jeffrey epstein,zohran mamdani,ghislaine maxwell,movies,new york city
INTERNACIONAL
El Foro Penal confirmó que al menos 20 presos políticos fueron excarcelados este domingo en Venezuela
Al menos 20 presos políticos fueron excarcelados este domingo en Venezuela, según confirmó la organización no gubernamental Foro Penal, en una de las liberaciones más amplias registradas en un solo día desde el anuncio del régimen chavista el pasado 8 de enero.
“Al menos 20 presos políticos excarcelados el día de hoy. Seguimos verificando”, informó el director de la ONG, Alfredo Romero.
De acuerdo con los registros preliminares de la organización, las liberaciones se produjeron en distintos centros de reclusión del país, entre ellos la sede del Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia (Sebin) en El Helicoide, y alcanzaron a dirigentes políticos, activistas regionales, defensores de derechos humanos y ciudadanos con doble nacionalidad.
Entre los casos confirmados figura el del defensor de derechos humanos Javier Tarazona, director de la organización Fundaredes, detenido desde el 2 de julio de 2021.
“Ya en libertad junto a su madre y hermano José Rafael, quien también fue preso político en Venezuela”, indicó el Foro Penal.
Tarazona fue acusado de incitación al odio, terrorismo y traición a la patria. Su caso se convirtió en uno de los más emblemáticos de la criminalización de defensores de derechos humanos en el país, tras haber denunciado un conflicto armado en la frontera con Colombia en 2021.
Fundaredes destacó que su detención estuvo marcada por la “falta de garantías judiciales, el irrespeto al debido proceso y condiciones que vulneraron sus derechos fundamentales”.
Entre los excarcelados también figura Luis Guillermo Istúriz González, abogado y dirigente del partido Vente Venezuela, quien permanecía detenido desde el 24 de agosto de 2024 y se encontraba recluido en El Helicoide.
El Foro Penal confirmó que Istúriz había sido sentenciado a 30 años de prisión en la misma causa en la que fue procesado Rafael Tudares, yerno del presidente electo Edmundo González Urrutia. Videos difundidos en redes sociales mostraron su reencuentro con su familia tras más de un año privado de libertad.
En el grupo de liberados también fue confirmada la dirigente regional Lorenia Guadalupe Gutiérrez Bolívar, coordinadora de Vente Venezuela en el estado Bolívar, detenida el 25 de agosto de 2025 durante un allanamiento sin orden judicial, según denunció su entorno. Su caso había sido señalado por organizaciones de derechos humanos como un ejemplo de la persecución contra estructuras políticas de base.
La ONG verificó igualmente la liberación de Mauricio Giampaoli, ciudadano ítalo-venezolano detenido desde el 23 de marzo de 2024; Yandir Loggiodice, secretario general nacional del Partido Centro Democrático, detenido el 14 de julio de 2025; Víctor Enmanuel Castillo Vizcaya, detenido desde abril de 2024; Willians Antonio Díaz Rolong, arrestado en mayo de 2025; Rodrigo Antonio Pérez Mejías; Omaira Josefina Salazar; Guillermo de Jesús López, detenido desde enero de 2024, así como Pedro Javier Fernández Rodríguez y Orangel Tabares, incluidos en la lista oficial de liberados del día.
Entretanto, La líder opositora de Venezuela y Premio Nobel de la Paz 2025, María Corina Machado, celebró la excarcelación de Javier Tarzana tras más de cuatro años en prisión.
“Querido Javier, me conmueve verte finalmente abrazando a Teresa, tu mamá y a tu hermano José Rafael. Venezuela toda admira y respeta tu valentía y tu entrega”, escribió Machado en sus redes sociales. En la misma publicación sostuvo que en el país “habrá justicia” y pidió la liberación de todos los presos políticos.
Fundaredes, por su parte, agradeció el respaldo de organizaciones nacionales e internacionales, periodistas y ciudadanos, y afirmó que durante más de cuatro años el caso de su director se convirtió en un símbolo de la persecución contra defensores de derechos humanos.
Las excarcelaciones de este domingo se producen en el marco de un proceso anunciado por el régimen chavista, que contempla la revisión de casos de personas detenidas por motivos políticos. El viernes, Delcy Rodríguez informó que se impulsa una propuesta de ley de amnistía para personas privadas de libertad por razones políticas desde 1999 hasta la actualidad.
El Foro Penal ha venido documentando de manera sistemática los casos de detención por motivos políticos en el país y señaló que continuará verificando la identidad de los liberados y las condiciones de su excarcelación. Hasta el sábado, la organización había confirmado la salida de prisión de 310 personas como parte de este proceso.
La ONG advirtió que la verificación continúa, debido a que las excarcelaciones se realizan de forma escalonada y, en varios casos, las familias reciben notificación informal poco antes de que los detenidos sean trasladados fuera de los centros de reclusión.
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