Illegal immigrant centres deadline

 

Illegal immigrant centres deadline

 

The two temporary installation centers for illegal immigrants in the country must be completed by 30 June 2026 and will be the responsibility of the PSP, according to the Council of Ministers resolution.

 

By TPN/Lusa, in News, Portugal · 23 hours ago · 0 Comments

Credits: Lusa;

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2025-02-18/illegal-immigrant-centres-deadline/95646

 

Last week, the Government approved the construction of two temporary installation centres with a capacity for 300 people and a budget of around 30 million euros financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and now the resolution authorising the PSP to assume multi-annual charges and to incur expenditure relating to the acquisition of public works contracts for the construction of these infrastructures has been published in the Official Gazette.

 

The resolution states that the Government has decided to centralise in the Public Security Police the powers regarding the management and operation of temporary installation centres (CIT) and spaces equivalent to temporary installation centres (EECIT), which must be used for the reception and stay of third-country nationals subject to the screening procedure, as well as the procedure for removal from national territory.

 

“Therefore, an investment is planned with the aim of building two CITs, by June 30, 2026, with capacity for 300 people, using, for this purpose, the financing provided for in the Recovery and Resilience Plan”, the document states, adding that investments are also planned to ensure the requalification and expansion of the existing EECIs at the international airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada.

 

The Government considers that “there is a clear need to enter into construction contracts (under the design-build modality) for the construction of new CITs”.

 

“Since it is, therefore, both urgent and imperative, for security reasons, to create new places for reception, the legislation on public procurement provides for the use of exceptional regimes, capable of ensuring the protection of internal security, namely through confidentiality and special security measures, and these same aspects must be safeguarded in the respective contracting process, namely in the contract execution phase”, says the resolution.

 

The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, indicated last week that one of the centers will be built in Odivelas, in the Lisbon region, and the other in the North region.

 

Leitão Amaro justified these centers with the need for Portugal not to currently have “the capacity to install foreign citizens identified as being in an illegal situation”.