Dozens of immigrants took part in a peaceful protest today at the premises of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), in Porto, to demand rapid responses to requests for regularisation and to bring these issues to the political debate.

While they were shouting slogans such as “Documents for everyone, everyone, everyone” (in reference to a message from Pope Francis, who died on Monday) and “We are immigrants, we are not criminals”, among others, an individual infiltrated the protesters, shouting words against immigration with a megaphone.

The individual, allegedly belonging to the Reconquista Movement, ended up getting involved in clashes with the protesters, forcing the intervention of the police, who removed him through a security barrier.

The demonstration, which is still taking place, was organised by the Associação Solidariedade Imigrante, together with other movements defending immigrant rights.

Speaking to journalists, Timóteo Macedo, president of the Immigrant Solidarity Association, said that immigrants’ rights are at stake: “Humanity is at stake, immigration policies are at stake, which are policies that are going backwards, they are cruel policies that mistreat immigrants, who work and pay their taxes here. These are policies that do not serve this country.”

Portugal is a humanitarian country. It cannot accept security policies, policies that imprison and expel immigrants. These are people who are working here and we demand that this government respect those who work, those who are here, those who live in our society,” he said.

The association's leader considered that the change in policies “only benefited the mafias, slave labour and human trafficking”, saying that the so-called “green lane” for immigration, created by the Government, “is nothing more than making things easier for big companies, which will not work”.

“We have been here for 25 years fighting for immigrants’ rights and we have already had this type of work visa, which didn’t work. It fed the mafias. Today, many people from other countries, from other continents, pay €22,000 to come here. And with work-seeking visas. They pay thousands and thousands of euros. So this is not fair. It is not worthy. And we want this to change,” he added.

He mentioned that "at AIMA, there are 400 thousand pending processes, it is necessary to look at the processes one by one and give them the possibility to continue here. Employers prefer to hire people they know, who they look in the eye, who they can see who they are, in order to effectively meet the labour needs that exist in various sectors of activity”.

“We were in favour of closing the Immigration and Borders Service because we believe that immigration cannot be linked or related to the police or crime. So, a public structure was created that we want to be of quality, with all the conditions for work, with motivated workers, with decent wages, without precariousness, so that we can have a capable AIMA,” he argued.

The information that, according to the activist, reaches the Solidariedade Imigrante association is that “of these 400 thousand dependent processes, more than 50% are being granted”.

Accommodation

Interviewed by Lusa, Romani Valentino, leader of an organization that fights for the right to housing, resident in Portugal for seven years, considered that the lack of housing is a problem in Portugal but, “evidently, it is an even bigger problem for immigrants, especially those who are unable to regularize their situation, which is increasingly difficult”.

Anabela Rodrigues, the daughter of immigrants but born in Portugal, told Lusa that “the fight against immigration is everyone’s, not just one or the other. Just as we were welcomed as immigrants in other countries, we also want our country to welcome those who arrive.”

Therefore, he argued that “this issue of immigration should be more present in the political debate. It should be present in a positive way.”

“Immigration is what contributes precisely to our having apples in our daily lives, to our having bread, to agriculture functioning, to the construction of houses continuing. That is what we should talk about,” he stressed.