BE’s coordinator said on Tuesday that when the right raises “fear and suspicion” about necessary immigration in Portugal, they simply want “more illegal immigrants” by demanding better functioning of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA). ).
Mariana Mortagua spent the morning of her 10th day of campaigning visiting the Immigrant Solidarity Association in Lisbon, where she spoke with many people waiting to be served and listened to the complaints and concerns of an institution that claims to often replace many of the state with little support.
“For every euro that immigrants receive, they pay seven into the social security system, they are necessary for the Portuguese economy, and whoever comes to create suspicion, whoever comes to create fear of immigrants, is not really because because they want fewer immigrants, or because they want more illegal immigrants,” he condemned.
According to the bloc’s coordinator, “you can often hear right-wingers talking about the dangers of illegal immigration,” but in “municipalities where right-wingers rule, obstacles are created to the regularization of immigrants.”
“The economy needs these immigrants, they are here because of the economy. They want [a direita] The more exploited and underpaid immigrants are at the mercy of this insatiable and wild economy and we cannot accept this because Portugal is a country that respects everyone who works and everyone looks at us,” he criticized.
For Mariana Mortagua, the fact that the SEF was no longer the one who welcomed these immigrants was very important, but Portugal “must improve this administrative capacity to legalize immigrants and be able to guarantee that everyone has access to basic public services.”
“It is now necessary to ensure that the agency [AIMA] which is meant to receive immigrants is working, and what we see so far is a huge mess,” he criticized.
According to the bloc leader, the entire process of eliminating SEF and creating AIMA has “left thousands of regularization processes behind schedule”, which “only contributes to the instability of these people’s lives.”
“They never know how tomorrow will contribute to labor exploitation, because disenfranchised and irregular workers are always at much greater risk of exploitation and abuse,” he lamented.
It was to condemn this situation that BE wanted to make this visit and leave a warning: “Portugal needs immigrants, the economy needs immigrants.”
“Without immigrants, there are no functioning homes, no agriculture, no construction, no fishing, no tourism. Let’s do what’s right, and the right thing is to welcome these people, to welcome them with respect for human rights.” “, he asked.
For Mariana Mortagua, this is an “inevitable topic” in which we have “seen a lot of disinformation and a lot of lies” against which “strong and unequivocal positions” are needed.
“I therefore want to applaud the role of the media, which was the first to say that Portugal does not have a problem of insecurity caused by migration. Having this ability to inform people, to destroy lies, to destroy lies that are thrown into public debate is what allows us to have a serious, honest, elevated and informed debate about immigration,” he praised.
The BE leader wants to open a debate after the elections “with all parties that have a left majority” about human rights and “how to treat all the people” who come to Portugal, giving them rights and responsibilities.
More than 10.8 million Portuguese are called to vote on Sunday to elect 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic.
18 political forces, 15 parties and three coalitions are competing in these elections.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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