A video went viral when he released the information that the PSP joined AIMA to do inspection actions to immigrants, and deport those who are illegal. But it's not true.
The context
At a time when the number of immigrants in Portugal and throughout Europe is growing, the problems with the regularization of those who arrive in the country and also the misinformation about this situation are increasing.
The most recent data show that immigrants represent 9.8% of the Portuguese population, which was settled in 2023 in the 60,039,000 people.
Last week, it was announced the creation of two immigration centers to expedite the expulsion of immigrants: one will be in Odivelas and the other in the North of the country, in a place still to be defined, making a total capacity for 300 people. In financial terms, this project translates into an expenditure that can go up to 30 million euros, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
These two new temporary installation centres (CIT) for the reception and residence of third-country nationals subject to the procedures for sorting and removal from the national territory arise to avoid sanctions from the European Union, since the country is not complying with the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, said the Minister of the Presidency, said the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaroo. “It is important that the world knows that the policy of open doors has ended,” said Leitão Amaro at a press conference of the Council of Ministers on February 13.
Igor Lopes shared in TikTok a video that seems to fit these statements of the Minister of the Presidency. It advances that the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) are carrying out street inspection actions to immigrants to identify illegal people in situations and deport them, “as is happening in the United States,” he describes.
The video, published on February 8, had almost 300,000 views. It also generated many interactions, with about 18,600 likes, more than 500 comments and almost 2000 people guarding the publication. Note that this is an account exclusively dedicated to content about immigration, especially the Brazilian community. Igor has 39,400 followers on this social network.
Also according to the same video, these actions take place in the cities of Lisbon, Porto and Braga. The modus operandi is to stop the immigrants on the street and ask for the documents. If they don't have them, they're deported. “The police are doing this mainly because of the crime rate that is increasing a lot here in Portugal, precisely because there are many illegal people,” the author explains. It is not linear, however, that crime has increased in Portugal.
The "global trends [of 2024] are not yet known, but, by crossing information from sources of the three main police officers, it is possible to advance that the general crime will have stagnated and the violent may have an increase of 1% and 2%," the Diário de Notícias reported in January.
The author of the video advises immigrants to stay at home until they have the regularized situation: “If they do not yet have a residence card, but they have that sheet or the demonstration [of interest] or the CPLP, always walk with it and, if you can, the passport. If your situation is that there is still no document or has not yet filed the process, it is irregular in the country, try to avoid going as far as possible to go out into the streets and in the city centers.”
It also warns of the delay in the regularization of foreign nationals, taking into account the high number of queues waiting processes of AIMA. As stated above, AIMA has a list of about 700,000 cases and expects to account for all by the end of June, so it is true that the regularization process may indeed take a few months.
The facts
The PSP denies this situation: “the Public Security Police do not have operations taking place with AIMA,” he writes in response to the questions of the PUBLIC.
Not only are there not taking control of surveillance on the streets, but there are no arrests taking place. “Whoever has entered regularly,” but “has exceeded his permitted time of stay,” receives a notification to leave the country freely, “not being detained,” the authorities explain.
The detention and deportation happen only to “who has entered irregularly” in Portugal, “having a decided expulsion/depassing process” or has been the subject of “a measure of interdiction of permanence/entry in the European space”.
Unlike information conveying the influencer Igor Lopes, citizens who do not yet have the process of regularization ended are not in danger of expulsion. This is because, also according to the words of the PSP, the authorities consider regular “any citizen who has a residence permit, a valid visa or ongoing regularization or renewal process”.
The PUBLIC also sent questions to AIMA about the information conveyed in this video, but received no response until the date of publication of this article.
The verdict
Contrary to what Igor Lopes says, it is false that the PSP is promoting inspection actions in the streets of Lisbon, Porto and Braga, together with AIMA, with the aim of deporting immigrants.
The deportation only happens for citizens who have entered the country irregularly, with expulsion proceedings or interdiction measures in the European area. Otherwise, there is no arrest, but only a notification to leave the country freely, if they have already exceeded the allowed time of stay in the country and have not started a regularization process.