EXCLUSIVE: Portugal is paying a high price after a new law allows up to 300 million foreigners to gain legal residency, says the leader of Portugal’s CHEGA party, André Ventura.

The leader of Portugal’s CHEGA party, André Ventura, only founded his party in 2019 but is already a contender to lead the country as the next president. In an exclusive interview, he discusses the perils and opportunities regarding immigration, his party’s electoral chances, and increasing social media censorship

Q: The question of immigration seemed like a major theme in your CPAC speech. You said some level of immigration was necessary, but why not just introduce an immigration moratorium?

A: With massive tourism activity, we need some immigration, but massive illegal immigration or even massive immigration can both bring problems. For example, in Portugal, now most of the immigration is legal. This happened because they changed the rules and revoked most of the rules about citizenship or residency. Two months ago, all citizens from countries that use the Portuguese language, so imagine, all the citizens from Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Timor, and Guinea – we are talking about 300 million people- can go and get automatic residence in Portugal. This is dangerous, and we are already paying for it with big criminal groups going to Portugal, coming from Brazil or from East Timor. We are doing damage to Europe.

Q: So, the numbers coming from Brazil seem like a major problem for Portugal, in particular…

A: I would like to say it is not only Brazil. The problem is that we are getting all these people from India, from Pakistan, from Bangladesh, and sometimes also from Brazil coming here. Portugal is facing a major crisis in housing and construction. And now, with these people arriving, sometimes you go to Lisbon and you see a room or a house with 100 people inside or 50 people inside.

Q: You say that immigration is needed for jobs in tourism and agriculture. Well, doesn’t Portugal have a very high youth unemployment rate? Why are those people not being put to work?

A: If you are an immigrant, and you come and you don’t have a house, you get money. If you don’t want to work or you are fired and then you give up looking for a job, the state keeps giving you money. Sometimes it’s more profitable not to work because you get money, and you don’t have to pay for transportation, gas, or food.

We must create the conditions that our brightest people don’t want to leave or don’t feel the need to leave for other countries. We had this attack in Lisbon one month ago, an Afghan guy who killed two women. We don’t know yet if he had ties to terrorist groups or to criminal groups. But the truth is that when the attack happened, the authorities didn’t have a clue who this guy was. And why? Because we are not controlling anything. They’re just saying, ‘Come in and do whatever you want.’

Q: Your party is growing explosively. Are you starting to face any sort of censorship on any social media platform?

A: Yes, the people who work for us tell us that this is happening on Facebook, Instagram, and in the algorithms.

Q: How well do you expect your party to do in the next elections?

I think we will get into the government, either leading or in a coalition. I hope we’re leading it, but it’s difficult. We are at 15 per cent; the other party is at 26 per cent. We will fight to lead the next Portuguese government. I’ll fight for it, but for sure we will be in the government.

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