Immigrant rights association Solidariedade Imigrante welcomed on Friday Portuguese President António José Seguro sending a parliamentary decree on foreign asylum, detention, and return to the Constitutional Court for preventive review.
Timóteo Macedo, president of the association defending immigrant rights in Portugal, told news agency Lusa that the president did his duty against a poorly written law that removes rights protected by European and international constitutions and human rights.
Macedo said the decree was a real civilizational setback and that President Seguro acted to safeguard the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. He stated that the organization has demanded the right for people to live in families regardless of nationality, warning that the decree allows families to be separated.
Immigrant Rights Concerns
Macedo said people should not be separated by these laws or by other measures aimed at creating prisons for immigrants under the name of reception centers. He leads an organization representing 1,300 members from 105 different nationalities.
The association president argued that the decree lacks a humanist policy and that Portugal needs policies of attraction rather than expulsion. He added that public immigration policies of the government strip fundamental rights from foreign citizens who contribute greatly to the country.
Presidency Statement on Human Dignity
The President of the Republic announced the request for preventive review in a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.
In the note, Seguro stated that while combating illegal immigration and defending Portuguese borders is necessary, those actions are not incompatible with human dignity. He highlighted that women, men, and children seeking asylum and refuge in Portugal flee wars, armed conflicts, and political persecution for humanitarian reasons.
Seguro noted that several legislative solutions in the decree raise well-founded doubts about protecting the best interest of the child. He specifically cited concerns over parent-child separation and the potential indirect or consequential expulsion of Portuguese minor children.
Parliamentary Approval and Decree Changes
The decree executes regulations and transposes European Union directives. It includes changes to the reception regime for foreigners and stateless people in temporary installation centers, rules governing entry, stay, exit, and removal of foreigners from national territory, and asylum laws.
Under the changes, the maximum period for holding foreign citizens in temporary installation centers is extended to 180 days, which can be renewed for an equal period.
Parliament approved the decree on foreign asylum, detention, and return with votes in favor from PSD, IL, and CDS-PP, while Chega abstained. The final text of the legislative initiative, based on two bill proposals from the PSD and CDS-PP government, passed in a final global vote in plenary on July 17. Parties voting against included PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN, and JPP.
