“It is an atrocity against immigrants. It makes no sense to have laws that deport simple people who haven’t committed crimes. These are individuals who are working, and it is inadmissible for this government to apply measures reminiscent of a bygone era, akin to a hunt for immigrants,” stated Timóteo Macedo.
The association leader was commenting on the amendments to the laws concerning Foreigners (Entry, Stay, Exit, and Removal from National Territory), Asylum (Granting of Asylum or Subsidiary Protection), and the regime defining the Accommodation of Foreigners or Stateless Persons in Temporary Installation Centers.
The decrees, which enter public consultation today, extend the maximum detention time from two months to a potential period of up to a year and a half until deportation concludes, eliminate the initial voluntary departure notification step, and prevent suspensive appeals, among other measures aimed by the government at ensuring greater efficiency. However, Timóteo Macedo criticized these measures.
“It is the government that is targeting the immigrants it doesn’t want,” he accused, indicating that “this policy seeks to criminalize immigration,” disputing the legal changes affecting those who entered legally through tourist visas when an expression of interest was still permitted, a mechanism for legalization in the country that the government has since abolished.
However, “since they are already here, these individuals should be given a chance,” expressed Timóteo Macedo, highlighting that closing the options “only fuels the mafias” linked to illegal immigration.
“The state itself, through security forces, is complicit in human trafficking and slavery. And this government turns a blind eye, as if nothing has happened,” he claimed, citing the recent Safra Justa case, which dismantled a network exploiting immigrants, involving PSP and GNR members.
These are the kinds of “policies that fuel the mafias,” as the “underground work will increase, and we see this happening on the ground,” accused the association leader.
In areas where many immigrants reside, “there are fewer people on the streets due to fear of inspections,” he noted, recalling the recent operation at the Babilónia shopping center in Amadora.
The authorities “claimed they were looking for stolen mobile phones,” but “everyone knows they were searching for immigrants,” he charged, emphasizing that in “most situations, the fault lies with the State.”
“The Government is responsible for all this: when the immigrant does not have documents, it’s because they weren’t received in a timely manner,” he emphasized, criticizing what he described as “persecution situations” against those who are working.
“Just yesterday [Thursday], we received a case of a citizen whose residence visa application was denied,” which was submitted “in March 2023” to the services, the activist illustrated.
“It took two years before they were summoned, and now they’ve been told they only had 11 months of contributions in Portugal at the time of the first request.”
Today, the applicant has more than three years of social security contributions and taxes paid, yet “they want to expel those they don’t want” in Portugal and “find ways” for that to happen.
“This citizen was from Bangladesh, but he could have been from any other country,” alleged Timóteo Macedo.
