The 33 Moroccan migrants who came ashore in the Algarve in early August have been released, as the 60-day legal detention period has expired. Nothing now prevents them from moving freely within Portugal or travelling abroad.
The government has criticised what it calls “the heavy legacy of eight years of an unregulated immigration policy.”
According to SIC, the 33 adult migrants, who landed at Vila do Bispo on 8 August aboard a wooden vessel, were released on Monday, 6 October. With the 60-day limit for holding individuals in temporary reception centres, managed by the PSP, now reached, responsibility for the group has passed to Social Security. They have been placed in guesthouses in São Pedro do Sul (Viseu district) and Portimão (Faro district).
Four minors are also under the care of Social Security.
A court had ordered the deportation of the migrants to Morocco, but the process was delayed pending appeal decisions. Only one of the migrants chose not to appeal and has already returned to Morocco.
In a statement sent to the media, the government lamented the “objective lack of legal, material and organisational conditions for the rapid and effective enforcement of deportations in Portugal.” It identified three main bottlenecks slowing removals:
The responsibility for deportations being assigned to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) following the dissolution of SEF; a lack of capacity in Temporary Installation Centres (CIT), which are currently full; and a legal framework that “induces and allows excessive delays in the process, with overly long deadlines, duplicated procedural stages, and administrative and judicial appeals that can be used to stall proceedings.”
The government stated it is “working to resolve these bottlenecks,” including transferring deportation powers from AIMA to the PSP’s National Unit for Foreigners and Borders (UNEF), approving funding for the construction of two new CIT facilities, and attempting to push through legislative reforms to speed up deportation procedures. The latter proposal, however, was rejected by Parliament at the end of 2024, with votes against from the two main opposition parties.
It reiterated that a new proposal to reform the deportation regime, aimed at shortening deadlines and cutting red tape, will be presented this autumn.
The government blamed “the heavy legacy of eight years of an unregulated immigration policy” under António Costa’s governments and urged political parties to “take responsibility and work towards parliamentary consensus so that Portugal can have a regulated immigration policy, including in the field of removals of those in the country illegally.”
The group, comprising 38 Moroccan nationals — 25 men, six women and seven minors — arrived on the evening of 8 August at Boca do Rio beach, in the parish of Burgau, Vila do Bispo municipality, aboard a wooden boat. They were detained and placed in temporary holding facilities while awaiting the completion of deportation procedures, either voluntary or enforced.
