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 leftist 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 a right-wing 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, telling Musk: "Mars can wait. Humanity can't" -- a reference to Musk's oft-repeated idea that humans will one day travel to other planets.
Immigrants bolster jobs, pensions
Sanchez argues 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 irregular immigration.
Musk annoyed the Spanish government earlier this month when he suggested at Davos that Europe could generate all the electricity it needed by covering relatively unpopulated areas of Spain with solar installations.
Spanish Environment Minister Sara Aagesen called the proposal "a total extravagance".
