
“A decision has already been made, it was to transfer them to a temporary installation center, and they will be included in the group of eight people whom we will start transporting today,” stated Captain Joana Machado of the Coastal Control and Borders Unit (UCCF) of the GNR at around 15:30.
These eight individuals were the only ones, out of a total of 38 who arrived on a wooden vessel at a beach in Vila do Bispo on Friday, who still remained housed in a pavilion in Sagres. Their transport is destined for the Temporary Installation Center of Porto, the GNR officer specified.
The rest of the group had already been presented in court, but one of the migrants still needed to be questioned, having been hospitalized and only able to provide testimony today before an investigating judge.
Joana Machado noted that the group of eight remaining in Sagres will depart for Porto this afternoon, thus freeing up the pavilion which had served as a temporary installation area for the individuals who arrived on the Algarve coast by wooden vessel, some in a quite weakened state.
The UCCF of the GNR had already informed on Tuesday that a total of 24 people from the group of 38 migrants that disembarked in the Algarve were being directed to temporary installation centers.
The first group of nine departed at around 15:00 on Tuesday, heading for Porto, while another 15 were sent to Faro, mentioned Captain Joana Machado, the public relations officer of the Coastal and Borders Control Unit of the National Republican Guard (GNR).
Another six individuals, two men, a woman, and three children from the group of migrants that landed at Boca do Rio beach in the Burgau parish, Vila do Bispo municipality, were directed to temporary installation centers on Monday night.
Out of the 38 migrants, eight remained in the Sagres pavilion, but with the departure of this last group, “the task of relocating these people to temporary installation centers is complete,” highlighted Joana Machado today.
The CITs are temporary reception spaces managed by the PSP for foreigners subject to forced removal measures from the country, and they can also accommodate foreigners awaiting integration into reception centers or a decision on an international protection request.
The maximum duration for migrants to stay at these centers is 60 days, and the entire process of expulsion from Portugal must be accompanied by PSP personnel.
The Civil Protection Service of the Vila do Bispo City Council provided a sports pavilion in Sagres on Friday for temporarily accommodating the migrants.
The 38 migrants, comprising 25 men, six women, and seven minors, are all Moroccan nationals.
The landing of the 38 migrants at Boca do Rio beach in the Vila do Bispo municipality, Faro district, prompted the Portuguese Navy and the National Maritime Authority to reinforce surveillance along the Algarve coast since Saturday.