António Leitão Amaro, Minister of the Presidency, who is being heard in Parliament regarding the 2026 State Budget, stated that the idea that immigrants "parasitize social benefits" is also "false," recalling, for example, that they benefit less from the Guaranteed Minimum Income (RSI) than the general population.
“Their link [immigrants] between crime and immigration is false, the same goes for the parasitism of social benefits,” said António Leitão Amaro in response to Chega party deputies during the parliamentary debate on the Government's proposal for the 2026 State Budget (OE2026).
The official argued that it is "unfair to speak of foreigners living in Portugal as parasites of the welfare state, nor as criminals."
"Crime has no skin color, nationality, or religion, neither in the victim nor in the perpetrator. Those who make associations that are disproven by the numbers are manipulating and trying to create a lie in Portuguese society," he stressed.
Leitão Amaro stated that "irresponsible immigration" has quadrupled in Portugal, "but the crime rate and crime statistics have not shown a correlational trend."
“Immigrants benefit from RSI [Social Insertion Income] less than their proportion in the Portuguese population, the same goes for social support; they contribute several times more than they receive today. In the future they will receive more, but your idea of parasitism is false,” he said in response to Chega MP Ricardo Reis.