Eduardo del Pozo Querol

Spain has a population of 49 million people. More than half a billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa alone live in extreme poverty, and well over a billion live below basic poverty thresholds. So I genuinely want to understand the principle here. Why does the person who makes it into Spain illegally, or arrives seeking refuge, suddenly have a greater claim to Spanish resources than the hundreds of millions, even billions, who remain behind? To say nothing of the actual citizens of the country expected to absorb the cost. A politician’s first duty is to the citizens of the country they serve. That means protecting their security, housing, public services, infrastructure and social cohesion. They are not elected to assume responsibility for every person living in poverty worldwide. If helping people abroad is your personal mission, have at it. Devote your own time, money and career to it. Move there and help them directly. But when you hold public office, you are spending other people’s money and making decisions that affect their communities. Compassion does not exempt you from basic arithmetic. Populations are enormous, resources are finite, and every policy choice has tradeoffs. If you want to dedicate your own life and resources to helping everyone you can, go for it. What you do not have the right to do is impose the costs of your compassion on millions of citizens who never consented to having their housing, services, security and communities placed under greater strain.