El Gobierno de Portugal calienta la campaña con el anuncio de la expulsión de 18.000 inmigrantes | Internacional | EL PAÍS

Key Announcement

The Portuguese government announced plans to expel 18,000 undocumented immigrants within 20 days. This action, announced two weeks before the May 18th election, has become a central campaign issue.

Political Fallout

The opposition criticized the government for using immigration as a campaign tactic, accusing them of pandering to the far-right. The Prime Minister defended the move as a “normalization” of immigration policy, contrasting it with the previous socialist government's approach.

Immigration Policy Shift

This expulsion announcement reflects a broader shift in Portuguese immigration policy. The government recently ended a program allowing easier regularization for immigrants, leading to a backlog of applications and impacting those facing expulsion.

Election Campaign Impact

The immigration issue allows the Prime Minister to shift focus from controversies surrounding his family business and its dealings. This has proven a more comfortable campaign topic for the Prime Minister, given the intense scrutiny the previous issues had generated.

Additional Details

• The expulsions target those with denied residency applications or those with entry bans from Schengen area countries.
• Portugal has roughly 1.3 million legal residents, representing 12% of the total population.
• The government's actions have highlighted broader delays in the processing of residency permits.