The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, announced that the government is set to introduce new regulations in October for the expedited expulsion of illegal immigrants.
“I believe that we are in a position to share the new text with adjustments to the foreigner law in the coming days,” he stated in an interview with Rádio Renascença and Público, emphasizing that “the current return law includes procedures that are excessively prolonged.”
“The deadlines are too long. This all needs to be adjusted in line with new European rules, allowing people the opportunity to defend themselves and to ensure that returns can be executed swiftly when the rules are not followed,” he asserted.
According to Leitão Amaro, between 10,000 and 15,000 “notifications to leave” have been issued so far.
“Tough: We Disagree”
In response to a demonstration by immigrants on Wednesday in front of the Parliament, Leitão Amaro remarked that, except in isolated cases, those who complain are individuals “who do not want us to enforce the rules and prefer Portugal not to have stricter regulations.”
“If people are protesting against closing open doors, tough: we disagree. We will not backtrack on this. On the contrary, we will continue this path: regularizing on one hand and dealing with those here with more dignity and humanity,” he declared.
Expulsion of Foreigners with Portuguese Children
Regarding cases of foreigners ordered to leave the country who have children born in Portugal, Leitão Amaro confirmed these are individuals who, at a certain point in the process, should have proven the existence of children on national territory, and failed to do so. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that “the law provides protection for these cases” and “these decisions can be reviewed.”
During the interview, Leitão Amaro was also questioned whether the government would prefer to approve the State Budget proposal, which must be submitted to Parliament in less than a month, with the PS or with Chega.
On this issue, the Minister of the Presidency stressed that Chega or the PS supporting the budget does not mean an alignment with the government’s policy, arguing that the party that supports OE20256 is allowing “the Portuguese not to have to deal with elections again.” “No one has the patience,” he stated.
It should be noted that earlier this week, Leitão Amaro told the newspaper Expresso that the AD and Chega identify “the same problems” in immigration. However, in his opinion, the party led by André Ventura “imposes radical and unacceptable solutions,” while the government led by Luís Montenegro “proposes solutions.”
Yesterday, Wednesday, September 17, over a thousand immigrants protested in front of the Parliament in Lisbon, demanding equal rights and “documents for everyone.”
Living and working in Portugal for several years, yet still awaiting residency permits, more than a thousand immigrants demonstrated today in Lisbon, calling for equal rights and “documents for everyone.”
For about two hours, demonstrators, primarily from countries in the Indian subcontinent, peacefully gathered in front of the Parliament, mostly seated and attentive to testimonies and messages of support shared via microphone.
Several party representatives made a point of visiting the venue to express solidarity with the immigrants.
However, when the protest was winding down, the leader of Chega arrived, causing great “controversy.” This “provocation by André Ventura” was widely criticized by the opposition, including the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, who accused him of being “incendiary.”
