After completing the 60-day detention period allowed under Portugal’s immigration law, 33 Moroccan migrants who arrived by boat on the Algarve coast on August 8 have been released from custody.
According to national broadcaster SIC, the group – all adults – has been placed under the care of Social Security and accommodated in guesthouses in São Pedro do Sul (Viseu) and Portimão (Algarve). The migrants are now able to travel freely within Portugal or abroad, SIC adds. Meanwhile, four minors from the same group are also under protection of Social Security.
The migrants had been held in temporary accommodation centres managed by the PSP police, while awaiting the outcome of legal proceedings. A court had initially ruled for their expulsion to Morocco, but most appealed the decision. Only one individual chose not to appeal and has already returned voluntarily.
In a statement, the Portuguese government pointed to a “lack of legal, material, and organisational conditions” for carrying out removals efficiently, identifying three main obstacles: the responsibility for returns lying with the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) after the abolition of SEF; the lack of capacity at existing temporary detention centres (CIT); and a slow legal framework, which allows lengthy appeals and procedural delays.
The government says it has taken steps to “unblock” these issues, including transferring deportation duties from AIMA to the National Unit for Foreigners and Borders (UNEF) of the PSP, approving funds for two new detention centres, and drafting legislation to speed up return procedures – a proposal which was rejected by Parliament in late 2024.
The statement criticised what it called “eight years of unregulated immigration policy” under previous governments, urging opposition parties to support reforms aimed at creating a more “regulated and effective” migration system.
The group’s arrival in August – 38 people in total, including six women and seven minors – was one of several small-boat landings on the Algarve coast in recent years. They had travelled in a wooden vessel that reached Boca do Rio beach, in the parish of Burgau, at around 8pm on August 8.
At the time, the migrants were detained pending repatriation procedures, which could be voluntary or enforced. Now, with their detention period expired, they are free to move within the country while the legal process continues.
