The issue of immigration in Portugal took on new dimensions in 2023, when the country reached the milestone of one million registered foreigners — a figure that has doubled in five years. The Brazilian community, with around 368,000 residents, leads this growth and is the largest migratory group in the country. These figures do not include naturalized immigrants or the 400,000 or so Brazilians awaiting regularization.
The exponential growth in immigration of Brazilians and people of other nationalities in Portugal has not found an adequate response in Portuguese public policies. This process has resulted in the exclusion of many immigrants from social rights. In addition, the deepening of housing problems in the country, with the rise in rent prices in the big cities; the reality of low wages and greater demand on the public health system imposed issues to be faced by the Portuguese political field. Until then, the Portuguese political arena was dominated by the bipartisanship of the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD). In this context, Portuguese migration policy, considered one of the most open in the European Union, began to change in 2024 by implementing measures, such as the end of the Expression of Interest after entering the country, implemented in 2017, which directly affected Brazilian immigrants.
This scenario has placed immigration at the core of public debate in Portugal, fueling the perception that immigrants are a problem and opening space for more forceful anti-immigration discourse. Far-right movements, which have been growing in Portugal, have exploited the link between migration and the country’s social challenges to restrict immigrants’ access to social rights and promote exclusionary policies, claiming to protect the well-being of the native population
The role of Chega and transnational nationalism
The far-right Chega Party, founded in 2019, consolidated its position as the country’s third political force in the 2024 elections, with 48 elected deputies. This rise represents a break from the historic pro-immigration consensus that had prevailed since re-democratization, promoted by the PS and PSD. Chega’s stance reflects influences from transnational nationalist movements in Europe and the U.S., with an adaptation to the local context of an “us versus them” rhetoric and a rejection of multiculturalism. Krzyżanowski and Halikiopoulou note that anti-immigration discourses polarize society, creating a division between a “morally pure native” and a “dangerous immigrant”, turning the migration issue into a nationalist clash and a field of dispute for xenophobic and racist ideologies.
The strengthening of anti-immigration discourses in Portugal, as in other countries, is rooted in rhetoric that instrumentalizes collective fear by defining immigrants as a threat to national security and cultural homogeneity. But not just any immigrant. White, middle-class Brazilians with greater cultural proximity are better regarded and, in some cases, have even shown support for the Chega Party proposals in Portugal. The immigrant is seen as responsible for social crises and insecurities the further away from the features of universal and Eurocentric individuals (white, Western, Christian, male, heterosexual) they are. This is what has helped to mask the structural causes of the inequalities and precariousness experienced by Portuguese society.
The use of social networks and the spread of disinformation have accelerated the increase in anti-immigration narratives. The academic literature has shown that the digital platforms where many anti-immigration activists or supporters of the Chega youth are manifested have not only facilitated the spread but also shaped hate speech and the normalization of stereotypes that associate immigrants with criminality and urban deterioration. In the case of Portugal, anti-immigration discourses spread on the networks include themes such as “population replacement” and “cultural superiority”, which evoke a “threat” to national sovereignty.
‘De-democratization’ and the racialization of migration
The process of “de-democratization” described by Isabel Ferin Cunha suggests that the end of the welfare state in Europe, together with the rise of neoliberal ideology after 2008, contributed to the construction of the immigrant as a scapegoat for social problems. In Portugal, the precariousness of everyday life, especially concerning the rising cost of living, reinforces the perception that immigrants are “occupying” the space of natives in the world of work and overloading public services.
In the discourse of far-right activists, immigrants are considered threats to “national identity”, a concept anchored in a racialized vision that privileges certain phenotypical characteristics as a condition for belonging. This narrative of “cultural purity” echoes nationalist and colonial practices based on a supposed European superiority that seeks to preserve racial homogeneity harming cultural plurality.
All of this has increased violence against immigrants. Cases such as that of the Brazilian woman verbally attacked at Lisbon airport at the end of 2023; of Saulo Jucá, from Pernambuco, who was violently beaten in the city of Braga last year, and even fatal situations such as that of Odair Moniz, killed by the police in Amadora in October, are becoming increasingly frequent. The latter resulted in protests against police violence that took to the streets of Lisbon, highlighting social polarization and the impact of anti-immigration discourse on Portuguese society. In response, Chega organized demonstrations supporting the police in order to legitimize violence against immigrants, under the justification of national defense. This contributes to fomenting division in Portuguese society and threatens democratic coexistence.
Although the anti-immigrant stance in Portugal is still in its infancy compared to other European countries, it is showing signs of growth and greater visibility in the public sphere, which could further affect the Brazilian and Latino migrant communities. Given the continuing flow of migrants and the growth of the far right in the country, it is likely that the issue of immigration will remain a central agenda in the Portuguese political debate. This will pressure the country to reflect on its multicultural identity, while also highlighting the risks of potential reconfiguration of Portugal’s migration and democracy policies in the coming years.
Autor
Professor at Escola Superior de Publicidade e Marketing, ESPM (São Paulo). Coord. of the research group Interculturality, Citizenship, Communication and Consumption. Researcher at the Institute of Communication of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Post-doctoral researcher at the Escola Superior de Publicidade e Marketing, ESPM (São Paulo, Brazil), with a CNPq grant. PhD in Communication from Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Member of the research group Deslocar - Interculturality, Citizenship, Communication and Consumption.
