Francisco Gomes, deputy elected by Chega Madeira to the Assembly of the Republic, criticized the immigration policies that have been followed by the current government and considered that the growth of the immigrant community exerts pressure “as unsustainable on essential pillars of Portuguese society” such as Health, Education and Public Security.
“The negative and worrying impacts of disorderly immigration are already visible in several areas of the continent, where cultural conflicts and social tensions are arising with increasing frequency due to the presence of people who do not respect the country that welcomed them, who despise our culture and who seek to impose their customs, instead of respecting those who were born here and have always lived here”, says the parliamentarian.
For the MP, the “open doors” policy “is irresponsible and is turning Portugal into a country vulnerable to the consequences of poorly managed integration”. Francisco Gomes asserts that although geographically distant from mainland Portugal, Madeira is not immune to the threats that are already being felt in the rest of the country.
He reiterated that the exponential growth of what it understands as “uncontrolled immigration” is not sustainable and demanded a firm response from the government, both at national and regional level, to prevent Portugal from becoming a country at the mercy of social conflicts, cultural tensions and security challenges that threaten stability and national identity.
For Francisco Gomes, “we are exporting our best people, importing everything that appears and, on top of that, giving them subsidies, which are paid for by the Portuguese who work. This is not how you build a country, but a third-world abyss. This is the path we are heading down and, soon, it will be too late.”
The deputy cites data from the Migration and Asylum Report, referring to 2023, stating that “the number of foreign citizens residing in Portugal increased, with a growth of 33.6% compared to the previous year, totaling, today, 1,044,606 people.