The announcement by the government regarding immigration enforcement has sparked accusations of electoral maneuvering. “We are seeing a news item that fits into the electoral dynamics. Such news, supposedly from the government’s agenda, will multiply,” stated Paulo Raimundo to journalists after an event with the CDU Youth at Voz do Operário in Lisbon.
The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, confirmed that the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) will start notifying 4,574 foreign citizens next week to voluntarily leave the country within 20 days. This marks the first group out of a total of 18,000 rejections.
“It’s a campaign act,” insisted the communist leader, perceiving the announced measure as a means for the AD government to bring a topic into the electoral agenda.
Concerning the specific measure, Paulo Raimundo criticized that the government’s focus is not on combating human trafficking networks and regularizing foreign citizens, which he argues is in the interest of both the state and the citizens themselves.
“Why they are not [regularized] is what matters to know, and it is, above all, due to the lack of resources at AIMA,” he emphasized, adding, “The biggest drama the country faces is not immigration; it is emigration.”
Addressing more than a hundred CDU youths, whom he accompanied in a march under the rain to Voz do Operário, Paulo Raimundo further remarked, “Youth is being pushed out,” and emphasized the need to invest in housing, education, and anti-precarity measures so that young people do not feel the need to leave the country.
