“São Teotónio has streets where Portuguese are in the minority”
GNR police have carried out a new ‘swoop’ on illegal immigration in São Teotónio, the parish of Odemira that has long been known as a hotbed for immigration issues since foreigners, particularly from India and Nepal, are attracted to the area to work in intensive agricultural explorations.
Pre-pandemic, Público carried an article on how there are streets in São Teotónio where Portuguese are in the minority, and since then a number of other media outlets have highlighted social concerns with the veritable flood of immigrants to the borough in general.
Today, the GNR has issued a statement to say that it has handed out 39 (more) administrative offences in the latest operation to ‘inspect foreign nationals’ in São Teotónio.
Among those offences, the police identified 14 cases of “failure to declare entry into national territory”.
The GNR’s Beja Territorial Command explains in the statement that their enforcement actions in the parish were carried out on Thursday.
As part of this operation, which was aimed to ‘raise awareness and ensure compliance with the legal rules relating to entry and stay in national territory’, 92 citizens and 10 establishments were inspected.
Of the 39 offences notices drawn up, 13 were for general offences, 12 for offences under road legislation (like driving without a legal licence).
The operation was reinforced by agents from various territorial posts, the Traffic Detachment, the Intervention Detachment of Beja Territorial Command and agents from the Coastal and Border Control Unit, with the support of inspectors from the authority for Labour Conditions the AT tax department.
Source: LUSA
