According to information provided by the National Directorate of PSP, the asylum requests from the 33 migrants will be assessed by the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA), and “the process of coercive removal is suspended” pending a decision.
On August 9, a judge from the Silves Court ordered the coercive removal and placement of the migrants into temporary installation centers. The coercive removal, if the migrants did not express a willingness to voluntarily return, has a legal deadline of 60 days.
So far, in addition to the 33 asylum requests, “none [of the migrants] have expressed a willingness to return to their country of origin,” explained the PSP. In the case of voluntary return, the deadline can be up to 20 days, which ends today.
In their communication, the PSP also mentioned that “only four of the 38 individuals had or later presented some form of identification” and that the identification process is ongoing with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Portugal. However, “based on the individuals’ statements, it appears that all are of Moroccan nationality.”
The group of 38—which includes 25 men, six women, and seven minors—arrived at the Boca do Rio beach in the Burgau parish of Vila do Bispo municipality on a wooden boat at around 8:05 PM on August 8.
Before being transferred to the temporary installation centers, some migrants, who were hospitalized, stayed at a sports pavilion in Sagres provided by the Civil Protection Service of Vila do Bispo Municipal Council.
According to information from the PSP at that time, 14 people were placed in the Temporary Installation Center of Porto (Santo António Housing Unit), 15 in the Space Equivalent to Temporary Installation Center (EECIT) in Faro, and nine in the EECIT of Porto.
