More than thirty asylum seekers risk sleeping on the streets in Caldas da Rainha

Thirty-one citizens seeking international protection risk sleeping on the streets outside a hotel in Caldas da Rainha, where they have been awaiting a decision from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum since Thursday.

Thirty-one citizens were accommodated by the Agency for Migration and Refugee Integration (AIMA) at the Cristal Hotel in Caldas da Rainha, Leiria district, but the booking made through a travel agency ended on Thursday, the Lusa Agency with its hotel division confirmed.

According to what they told the Lusa agency on the spot, 31 citizens were expected to be dispatched by AIMA during the day on Thursday.

“They said, ‘We’ll get you as soon as we can,’ then an hour or two passed, it got to this Friday, and no one picked us up, we don’t know when or where,” said one of the townspeople.

In Portugal 15 days ago, after receiving a request for political asylum, a 27-year-old Angolan man further explained that the group “slept last night in the hotel lobby, some on sofas, others on the floor.”

“We asked social security for help, they said it was none of their business, we asked the police for help, they said it was none of their business, AIMA either doesn’t respond or they say they come and don’t respond.” If we don’t show up, we don’t know what to do with our lives,” he added.

In a group that spent the day outside the hotel this Friday, the 44-year-old Pakistani man lamented that he “is a sick person who needs medicine.” He also says he was “rejected from both AIMA and Social Security.”

During their stay at the hotel, the group ate meals at a welfare facility. Once the reservation was completed, they no longer had access to food at that location and were left without lunch that Friday.

One of the men, a 27-year-old Tunisian, told Lusa that “this is the hotel that today [esta sexta-feira]They offered breakfast, and in the afternoon everyone was offered a bag of sandwiches and juice.”

The 31 men, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, fear that “if AIMA does not resolve the situation” they may “have to spend the night on the streets”.

“Because we really liked the hotel anyway, but it doesn’t have to welcome us,” he said.

When asked by Lusa about the situation, AIMA did not explain why these asylum seekers were left homeless, nor did they indicate where the group would be relocated, who at 18:00 this Friday were waiting on the street, near the hotel, for someone in charge. for this body will gather them.

In an emailed response, AIMA explained that the hotel room accommodation was used in response to the need to urgently receive international protection applicants “due to the sudden overcrowding of reception offices, namely the offices of the Portuguese Refugee Council (CPR). )”.

According to this body, from October 29, 2023 to this Friday, 1,622 requests for international protection were submitted (803 of them in 2024). In 2021, 1,537 people were admitted. In 2022, 1,992 people were admitted. And in 2023, 2,701 people were admitted.

“To address the sudden increase in the number of requests, a set of urgent measures has been taken, namely through a deep simplification of procedures and an increase in human resources allocated to this area,” AIMA explained, concluding that “due to the changes introduced, normalization is expected requests will be processed by the end of this month, including in relation to the reception component.”