Confidential regional police data shows foreign nationals accounted for majorities of sexual offense, homicide, robbery, and theft arrests despite comprising a small fraction of the population.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Foreign nationals accounted for nearly two-thirds of arrests for sexual offenses and more than 70 percent of arrests for homicide and robbery in Spain’s Navarre region over the past year, according to an internal police report prepared by the Information Division of the Navarre Regional Police and obtained by El Español.
The 23-page document compiles arrest data covering all of 2024 and through Nov. 25 of the following year, including detailed charts and offense-by-offense breakdowns that classify detainees by nationality and country of birth. This level of granularity is not included in the region’s publicly released annual crime reports. According to the report’s summary findings, foreign nationals represented 62.96 percent of arrests for sexual offenses, 73.3 percent of arrests for homicide and attempted homicide, and 71.77 percent of arrests related to robbery. Spanish nationals accounted for between roughly one-quarter and just over one-third of detainees in those same categories.
The report also identifies a shifting trend over time. As documented by El Español, the share of Spaniards arrested for these crimes declined from 37.36 percent in 2024 to 33.73 percent in 2025, while arrests of foreign nationals increased during the same period.
Among foreign suspects, Morocco and Algeria were the most frequently recorded countries of origin. In robbery cases involving violence, more than half of foreign detainees were Moroccan nationals, followed by Algerians. The report states that arrests of Moroccan nationals increased by 17.2 percent year over year, while arrests of Algerian nationals rose by 13.8 percent, increasing from 80 cases in 2024 to 91 cases in 2025. Morocco also ranked first as the country of origin for foreign suspects arrested for sexual offenses. In theft cases overall, 83.7 percent of detainees were foreign nationals, according to the report.
These arrest figures stand in contrast to Navarre’s demographic composition. The region has a population of approximately 683,000 people, with foreign residents comprising about 13.2 percent of the total population.
The internal report’s disclosure prompted criticism from María Chivite, the president of Navarre’s regional government and a member of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party. Chivite said that including offenders’ nationalities “does not contribute to prevention” and warned that it risks “very dangerous singling out.”
Navarre is not alone in reporting a disproportionate number of arrests involving foreign nationals. In November of last year, the Ertzaintza, the autonomous police force of Spain’s Basque Country, released its first report detailing the origins of detainees. That data showed that 64 percent of detainees were foreigners, despite foreign nationals making up approximately 14.1 percent of the region’s population. In cases of sexual assault, foreigners accounted for 68 percent of arrests, while in robberies involving force they represented 68.6 percent.
Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s right-wing Vox party, said his party had pressured authorities to change how crime statistics are reported. “Thanks to Vox, we know the origin of criminals, something that governments and many media outlets have been hiding for years,” Abascal said. “The reality is that the most serious crimes have multiplied due to the open borders of the PSOE, PP, and their permanent separatist partners.”
The release of the Navarre data comes as Spain’s national immigration policy remains under debate. Despite the reported rise in crime involving foreign nationals, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced this week an amnesty for an estimated half a million illegal immigrants currently residing in Spain, advancing the measure through a royal decree that bypasses parliamentary oversight.