Portugal to expel some 18,000 illegal migrants ahead of snap national election

On May 3, Portugal’s caretaker government announced plans to expel about 18,000 foreigners living in the country without legal permits or authorisation.

António Leitão Amaro, Minister of the Presidency, said the centre-right government will issue approximately 18,000 notifications to illegal migrants asking them to leave, Caliber.Az reports, citing European media.

According to Amaro, officials will begin next week by asking some 4,500 undocumented migrants to leave voluntarily within 20 days.

The announcement comes in the build-up to the country's early general election, scheduled to be held on 18 May.

Last week, Amaro was quoted in the local press as saying that “Portugal needs to review its deportation system, which doesn’t work."

"It is important to realise that Portugal is one of the three countries in Europe that executes the fewest deportations of people who ordered to leave for violating the rules, including for security reasons,” he said.

This month's snap ballot was called in March by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro after his minority government, led by his conservative Social Democratic Party, lost a confidence vote in Parliament and stood down.

By Khagan Isayev