Marcelo says that new immigration rules serve to stop the “snowball” and awaits the rest of the law
Migratory pressure will continue, believes the President of the Republic, who justifies the rush with the promulgation of new rules for immigrants, approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers, with the need to stop “the snowball†, albeit for a moment, waiting for the remaining legislation that provides the complete framework for immigration regularization.
Doing everything at the same time was an impossible task, defended Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, which is why the President already enacted the brake on new requests, in order to help the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) resolve the approximately 400 thousand pending cases more quickly. “What worries me most is whether or not those thousands are regularized” of people, he said. Having AIMA try to regularize at the same time as requests grew made the task “impossible†.
“Regarding the immediate future It is wise not to let the snowball continue to grow, because otherwise we will be chasing losses. I mean, we are trying to regularize hundreds of thousands of people and at the same time others are coming in, even before the rest of the regime is in force,” he said. Thus, the promulgation serves to “contain the pressure a little†, but it “continues†.
Despite the quick promulgation, the President is waiting for the remaining legislation that frames the entire regime and presents the model for receiving immigrants that the Government wants. It’s a “race against timeâ€, he stated, remembering that this decision to revoke the expression of interest rule, which allowed the request for regularization from immigrants who do not have an employment contract at the outset, is just one part and that there are many measures that “have not yet been presented†and that are important, such as how immigrants will be admitted in the future. Another measure that Marcelo is waiting to see is the special regime for CPLP countries. He recalled that there are “commitments†made and that is why he wants to see the letter of the law first.
For now, and taking into account the Government’s decision that it will be mandatory to present an employment contract for immigrants to enter legally, which will increase pressure on consulates, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa leaves the warning that this “it is a challenge that the Government has to faceâ€. “Either reform the consulates, or give them additional resources, or place there structures linked to employment, to the professional panorama,†he said.
On the other hand, there is this “very urgent†issue, which involves the regularization of migrants who are already waiting, and then the President waits for other decisions that will put the “machine†into effect. € working: “We need to quickly regularize thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people, who have been waiting for this for years. This is urgent, and there are other measures that will supposedly make the machine work to make this possible,” he said,
Legislate by decree and with calm debate and “without dramatizationâ€
One of the criticisms that was raised on Monday, after the presentation of the Government’s proposalwas the fact that LuÃs Montenegro’s executive had legislated by decree, avoiding going to the Assembly of the Republic. The President justifies the promulgation of the decree with the fact that the previous Government had already legislated on this matter by decree-law – and, as such, is treating both in the same way.
This does not prevent, he said, that parties call the document to be debated in Parliament. Taking into account the sensitivity of the topic, the President hopes, however, that the debate will be held “scalmly and without dramatization”.
