Portugal’s caretaker government plans to expel some 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization, a minister said on Saturday in the buildup to a national election.
Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said Saturday that the centre-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to people in the country illegally to leave. The minister said officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 foreigners to leave voluntarily within 20 days.
According to the Portugal Resident news website, immigrants will start receiving the first batch of notifications today. Citing reports, the site adds that, if they do not comply, “they will be subject to an expulsion process.”
On Monday, news website The Portugal News reported that The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) had begun the process.
On Sunday, Portugal Pulse news site reported that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro denied that process was being accelerated by the upcoming May 18 election, and said it was part of the process that began in June last year.
He also refuted the opposition’s criticism of a “Trumpization” of his campaign, a reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s border crackdowns.
“This is not about forcibly removing someone. It is about notifying the person, and the person can appeal. If they cannot meet the requirements, they must leave,” Montenegro said, according to Portugal Pulse.
Rise of the right
Portugal, which has a population of around 10.6 million people, has had a series of minority governments in recent years as the traditional rivals for power, the centre-right Social Democratic Party and the centre-left Socialists, lost votes to growing smaller parties.
One of these parties is the Chega party, which the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications notes has often been labelled a “radical right populist party due to its policies and rhetoric. It advocates an anti-immigration stance, with a particular emphasis on reducing illegal immigration and strengthening border security.”
The country has been caught up in the rising European tide of populism. The Chega party surged into third place in last year’s election.
“These results confirm the growing success of the radical populist playbook,” including, “staunch opposition to immigration,” wrote Filipe Calvão, an associate professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Chicago, on the Geneva Graduate Institute’s website last year.
Portugal will hold an early general election on May 18. Montenegro called the snap ballot in March after his minority government, led by his conservative Social Democratic Party, lost a confidence vote in parliament and stood down.
Anti-immigration sentiment
Portugal’s centre-right government has toughened some immigration rules in the past year, reflecting attempts elsewhere in Europe to fend off the rise of the far right.
Among the restrictions last year was outlawing a widely used mechanism called “manifestation of interest,” which for years allowed non-EU migrants without an employment contract to move to Portugal and request residency after paying social security for a year.
A surge in “digital nomads” had contributed to the growing backlash against immigrants, due to a rise in housing and living costs, The Telegraph reports. According to Fortune, house prices in Lisbon, the capital, rose 30 per cent over the last five years.
Last month, Portuguese riot police detained several ultra-right protesters after clashes in downtown Lisbon marred celebrations of the 51st anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, which ended a fascist dictatorship.
Extreme-right groups such as Ergue-Te (Rise Up), Habeas Corpus and Grupo 1143 had called a rally, which city authorities banned, to protest ahead of the parliamentary election against growing numbers of immigrants.
Around 1.5 million migrants live in Portugal, about triple the number a decade ago. According to the Integral Human Development website, most migration has traditionally flowed from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, Cape Verde and Angola.
According to the OECD, Brazil, India and Italy were the top three nationalities of newcomers to Portugal in 2022, and in 2023, the number of first asylum applicants increased by 31 per cent. The majority of applicants came from the Gambia, Afghanistan and Colombia, the OECD reports.
Around 14 per cent of taxpayers are migrants, Reuters reports, contributing more than 1.6 billion euros ($2.5 billion Cdn) to the economy in 2022, while receiving about 257 million euros ($401 million Cdn) in social benefits.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on course to become the second-largest player in the country’s parliament after Sunday’s election. CBC’s Margaret Evans breaks down how social media and influencers have helped the far-right political party make big gains with young voters.
