Trump opened the door to “deportation of irregular migrants”
The PS requested a parliamentary hearing from the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities on the situation of the Portuguese community residing in the United States in light of the announced mass deportation plan of Donald Trump, who takes office this Monday.
In the request, addressed to the president of the Commission on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities, the socialists say that the Portuguese community residing in the United States “is going through moments of great anxiety” due to the announcement that Trump made during the election campaign that he would carry out the largest deportation mass history of the United States.
Donald Trump, who takes office as the 47th president of the United States, paved the way, during his first term, “for the deportation of irregular migrants, putting an end to the DACA (Deferred Action for Childwood Arrivals) Program, a 2012 measure implemented by the President Obama, who protected migrants who came to the country as children from deportation and allowed them to live, study and work legally in the United States”, recalls the PS.
This program protected around 800,000 migrants, including several thousand Portuguese. Data from the 2020 Census in the United States indicate that more than one and a half million Americans are of Portuguese origin.
“The Portuguese and Portuguese-descendant community is historic and quite significant in the country, especially in the states of California, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey and Rhode Island”, reads the application.
According to the PS, “among thousands of Portuguese people who work, started a family and legalized themselves in the United States in search of a better future, there are many others who, having lived in the country for many years and paying taxes, have not yet managed to change their status and are in the situation of undocumented immigrants, in many cases, including families in which some members have legal residence documents and others do not, because they were unable to obtain them, and may therefore be the target of family separation”.
The threat of deportation and the impact it could have on the Portuguese community “greatly worries” the PS, which wants to know how the Portuguese Government is monitoring this situation, what the situation of the Portuguese community in the United States is and what dialogue there has been with the North American authorities and with the organizations and associations of the Portuguese diaspora in the United States.
The socialists also want the Executive to clarify “what special support measures or contingency plans the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is developing in order to guarantee the interests of the Portuguese community and Portuguese descendants residing in the United States”.
The PS wants José Cesário to reveal to deputies the Portuguese Government’s plans to guarantee the interests of Portuguese residents in the United States.
During a visit to Canada, Cesário said on Friday to the Lusa agency, in London, Ontario, that the Portuguese Government does not foresee, for now, mass deportations of undocumented Portuguese in the United States, guaranteeing that the situation is being monitored with “great attention and caution”.
The government official assured that there are plans to support Portuguese citizens who may be affected, stating: “This is an issue that will be evaluated according to the evolution of events. We always have plans to assist, to accompany the Portuguese who are in weaker, more fragile situations and, therefore, if this is the case, we will naturally use these mechanisms, we will use these means”.
