U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation campaign and hardline approach to restricting immigration, particularly from Latin American countries, has caused a knock-on effect in Spain. The country is seeing an increasing number of Latinos arriving, abandoning their American dream.
Benjamin Enrique Berardinelli Manjarrez is one of them. The 33-year-old Colombian arrived in Madrid at the beginning of May, by way of Italy.
“My first idea was to go to the U.S. Like many other Latinos, I have this dream of America for a better life and to make money,” said Berardinelli Manjarrez. “In one day, you can earn enough money to pay a month’s rent in Colombia.”
He was planning to travel to the U.S. border and cross illegally, but Trump’s tougher immigration policies forced him to change his plans.
“Many Colombian friends told me they want to go back. They don’t feel safe anymore and are scared of ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the police,” said Berardinelli Manjarrez, who left behind a wife and a nearly three-year-old child.
He now has to wait two years before he can apply for a special residence permit for foreigners in an “irregular situation.”
“The U.S. is too dangerous for us now. I think the American dream is over. Now, it’s Europe,” he said.
More Latinos expected in Spain
Spain already recorded a surge in the number of Venezuelans seeking asylum in the first quarter of 2025, with 23,724 requests, an increase of 54 per cent compared to the same period last year.
“This is just the beginning,” said Ana María Diez, co-founder and president of Coalition for Venezuela, an international federation of Venezuelan migrant and refugee NGOs.
Mexico said it has received nearly 39,000 people deported from the U.S. since Trump took office. Those deportations could increase further as the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the Trump administration to end deportation protections for some 350,000 Venezuelans.
“Many are now afraid to go to the U.S. with Trump’s xenophobic and anti-rights speeches,” Diez said. “Those are now giving up the American dream to try to pursue the European dream, and obviously, the gateway is Spain.”
Spain is, indeed, an easier entry point than other countries for Latin Americans, who speak the same language and already know the culture. They also don’t need a visa to come as tourists for fewer than 90 days.
“It’s a bit like a lottery,” said Máchelin Díaz, an immigration lawyer in Madrid. “Sometimes, upon arrival, they may be questioned and returned if they think the tourist person is coming to seek asylum.”
CBC News spoke with a Venezuelan lawyer only three days after his arrival in the Spanish capital. Trump’s return to the White House also changed his plans.
“Under Biden, it was already difficult but possible to achieve this, but now, with Trump it is almost impossible,” explained the 40-year-old.
CBC agreed to keep his identity confidential because he feared repercussions over his political activism in Venezuela.
After trying Austria a few years ago, where his asylum request was rejected, he returned to his country with the hope of going to the U.S. illegally. But the death of a friend, who drowned while trying to reach the U.S., and the fear of deportation changed his mind.
He now hopes to benefit from a Spanish law that allows children or grandchildren of emigrants with Spanish heritage to apply for citizenship. He hopes to eventually also bring his wife and two children to Spain.
The Trump administration deported more than 200 immigrants by invoking the Alien Enemies Act — a wartime measure — alleging they were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Andrew Chang explains how Trump is interpreting the language of the 1798 law in order to avoid the standard immigration court system, and why experts say it’s a slippery slope.
In the meantime, with little money left, he says he doesn’t know where he will spend the next few weeks.
“I hope I will be able to find a small job on the black market during the tourist season to earn maybe 40 or 50 euros per day. It’s not much, because Madrid is very expensive, but it would be something.”
Overwhelmed by asylum applications
Díaz says that in her practice she is also seeing Latinos who are already in the U.S., some with good jobs, making applications on economic or asylum grounds.
“They all want to come to Spain now,” she said.
However, Spain was already swamped with asylum applications before this recent wave, as tighter controls in Italy and Greece pushed many migrants to enter Europe via the Canary Islands.
“It’s difficult to know yet what the full impact will be, but what is certain is that the system is really overwhelmed, and the procedures are extremely long,” said Díaz. “It can take a year before you get your first appointment for your application, and then you have to wait several more months for the process to be finalized.”
The left-wing Spanish government recently amended the immigration law in the hope of processing undocumented migrants more quickly.
“Last year, the scenario was mostly to return Latinos. Now, they are better accepted,” said Díaz.
Historically, Spain has one of the EU’s lowest approval rates for asylum, 18.5 per cent in 2024 compared to the European average of 42 per cent.
“This is particularly the case for Colombian and Cuban people who don’t qualify for [asylum] status even if we know that in these countries they don’t have democracy and have a lot of issues,” said Díaz. “Authorities will say they come here for economic reasons and not for protection.”
The fear of being left in limbo
Alexander Jose Salazar Ramirez, a 34-year-old Venezuelan, says he feels trapped. He fled for political reasons and has been living in Peru since 2018 and in 2023 was asked to participate in a UN refugee resettlement program in the U.S.
“I got all my documents ready, and they gave me a travel date for Feb. 13 [2025] to Chicago,” said Ramirez. “I sold all my things, quit my job, left the apartment, and a week before the flight, they told me that I could no longer travel by order of President Trump.”
Since then, he has been in limbo, not able to return to his country for fear of being jailed.
“I’ve been denouncing the constant human rights violations occurring in Venezuela. I’m like a target for the government. Even here, I don’t feel very safe,” said Ramirez, who says he has to start his life from scratch. “I’m really considering Spain, but for now, I can’t afford it.”
The president of the Coalition for Venezuela says Spain should work with the UN and the U.S. to institute a resettlement process for people like Ramirez.
“These people get stuck without an alternative,” said Diez.
The Spanish government has said it is working on a plan to accommodate the majority of Latino deportees from the U.S. but has not yet revealed the details.
“The recent decisions in the U.S. have sadly impacted the whole South American region,” said Diez. “We have seen other countries trying to replicate the barriers that Trump is setting in place, such as Argentina, which was historically a safe haven for people worldwide. This could also push even more people into exile.”
