File photo: Spain Prime Minister. Pedro Sanchez
Madrid, Spain: Spain's prime minister has defended his government's plan to grant legal status to undocumented residents after criticism from tycoon Elon Musk on social media.
The plan approved Tuesday by Pedro Sanchez's government could affect around 500,000 undocumented workers, and bucks a trend in other parts of Europe to crack down on immigration.
SpaceX and Tesla chief Musk reposted a message on his social media platform X written by an influencer that described the plan as "electoral engineering", the entrepreneur reacting with the comment: "Wow".
The initial post, viewed millions of times, alleged that Sanchez would in effect be importing 500,000 loyal voters.
Sanchez replied late on Thursday, arguing that immigrants are key to Spain's economy, which expanded 2.8 percent last year -- nearly twice the 1.5 percent growth posted in the entire eurozone.
With Spain facing an ageing population and low birth rate, Sanchez says immigrants help sustain the workforce and maintain the pension system.
The main opposition conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox have lashed out at the government, saying the regularisation will encourage more illegal immigration
