Portugal has already welcomed and integrated about a thousand Timorese
About a thousand Timorese have already been welcomed and duly integrated by the Portuguese authorities, in the last year alone. It is just a part of the five thousand that are estimated to have arrived in Portugal last year, the majority deceived by a network of labor trafficking. The truth is that there were thousands of Timorese citizens who died because they remained in Portugal homeless and without work, which led to the intervention of the High Commission for Migration (ACM), the Secretary of State for Equality and Migration, Social Security and from several municipalities.
“The work we have been doing is this: when the situation of a citizen or a group of citizens who are in a vulnerable situation is signaled to us, the teams go to the place”, tells DN Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, Secretary of State for Equality and Migration, appoints multidisciplinary teams that represent various services: Social Security, ACM, local authorities, which carry out a survey of the situation — “And from response to frame people”. “The issue of accommodation in these situations of greater vulnerability is always a priority”, she stresses. “After seeing people about their profile and skills, he guaranteed their integration into the job market, because that is the key to autonomy.”
“Until now, since this movement began, we have already welcomed and housed around a thousand people”, confirms Isabel Almeida Rodrigues, although remember that it is not just the Timorese who have been in the sights of organisations, namely the portfolio that I oversee. By the way, there was a recent case in Odemira, with the intervention of the Judiciary Police.
“What we try to do is to mobilize the resources we have at our disposal to provide the person who arrives with support in the different dimensions of their life, so that they can find a space for integration here”, he emphasizes.
Pombal hosted 13 Timorese – all men and still young. The point of contact was a fiber optic installation company, which employed and housed all migrants
The Secretary of State guarantees that she has referenced all the situations “of which we are aware”. “In each of these cases we immediately identify and follow the aforementioned procedures”, he assures DN. “But that doesn’t mean that tomorrow there won’t be new situations of people in vulnerable situations that we don’t have to help at the moment”.
Isabel Almeida Rodrigues admitted that “not everyone is integrated into the job market”. “There are situations of professional training, training, but what matters is to be able to direct people towards a solution of life autonomy”.
The Secretary of State spoke to DN on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Support Center for the Integration of Migrants (CLAIM) n.º 156, in Pombal. And the intention of the government and the ACM is to continue to open independent spaces across the country, as they are “a specialized response for migrant citizens”, which includes a translation service (in person and over the phone).
“We are talking about centers where people who have been specially trained by the ACM work to identify those who are the needs of a migrant citizen who arrives in Portugal, who always has to deal with a set of documents to have his residence permit here, guarantee access to healthcare, or enrollment in the IEFP, if applicable. And these technicians are in the best position to bridge the gap with the various public services”. The official underlined the importance of continuing to invest in this type of service throughout the country, since “fortunately, in our country, migratory movements are directed to the entire national territory”. For the rest, I believe that this is also a way of giving “another stimulus to low-density territories”.
Isabel Almeida Rodrigues spoke in a municipality that has just received a group of 13 Timorese, out of a group of around five thousand who entered Portugal last year with promises of employment and legalization in exchange for three or four thousand euros. Many were abandoned to their fate and left homeless. In October, the case was reported to the authorities, and since then it has been easier to identify some groups and provide help.
In the case of the Pombal group — all men and still young — the point of contact was an optical fiber installation company, which employed and housed (in temporary premises) all of the migrants. Since none of them spoke Portuguese, the group attended an intensive language course, but only for two weeks. Meanwhile, with the support of the Municipality of Pombal — which has since become involved in the process, along with Social Security and the IEFP — language teaching should be resumed. The group (which came from São Pedro Pedro do Sul, in the district of Viseu, where the promised reception did not go well) will start work on the 2nd of January.
On the day of the inauguration of CLAIM, the Secretary of State recalls that “Portugal needs migrants, and not just for demographic reasons”. The mayor of Pombal, Pedro Pimpão, also opened the doors of the municipality to welcome migrants and refugees – as happened last year, with groups of Ukrainian families. Especially since the municipality will be part of the National Grant for Urgent and Temporary Accommodation (B-NAUT), a program created within the scope of the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) to support people who lack emergency or transitional accommodation solutions (situations ) which, by its nature, is a response tank for follow-up accommodation before being referred to a definitive housing solution), with a view to its social inclusion, protection and empowerment, the fight against inequalities and the guarantee of adequate social protection in the face of risk and emergency situations.