Chega, through deputy Francisco Gomes, elected by Madeira to the Assembly of the Republic, warned that, according to the Migration and Asylum Report, in 2023, the number of foreign citizens residing in Portugal increased, with a growth of 33.6% compared to the previous year, totaling, today, 1,044,606 people. The party also pointed out that data provided by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) reveal that, in just six years, the number of legal foreigners in Portuguese territory has more than doubled, from 480,300 in 2017 to more than one million in 2023.
Based on the data released, Francisco Gomes criticized the immigration policies that have been followed by the current government, and considers that the “growth of the immigrant community exerts an unsustainable pressure on the essential pillars of Portuguese society, including Health, Education and Public Safety.”
“The negative and worrying impacts of disorderly immigration are already visible in several areas of the continent, where cultural conflicts and social tensions are arising more and more frequently due to the presence of people who do not respect the country that welcomed them, who despise our culture and who seek to impose their habits, instead of respecting those who were born here and have always lived here,” he told reporters.
For Francisco Gomes, the “open door” policy that, in his view, is being followed by the current government is “irresponsible and is turning Portugal into a country vulnerable to the consequences of poorly managed integration.” The deputy also warned that the Autonomous Region of Madeira, “although geographically distant from mainland Portugal, is not immune to the threats that are already being felt in the rest of the country.”
“It is a big mistake to think that Madeira is protected from the worrying situations that we are witnessing in other parts of the country. The truth is that the Region is greatly exposed to the risks associated with uncontrolled immigration and the regional government has not adopted any measures to protect the borders or to understand the factors that are already causing problems in so many parts of the country,” he pointed out.
Chega reiterated that the exponential growth of what it understands as “uncontrolled immigration” is not “sustainable” and demanded a “firm response from the government, both at a national and regional level, to prevent Portugal from becoming a country at the mercy of social conflicts, cultural tensions and security challenges that threaten stability and national identity.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
