Portuguese authorities have rejected 34 of the asylum applications from the group of 38 Moroccan migrants who arrived at dusk in the Algarve on August 8.
Four further applications from unaccompanied minors (teenagers) are still to be assessed.
According to a source from AIMA, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, the 38 migrants applied for international protection (reportedly for political and economic reasons, as well as because of sexual orientation) but authorities considered 34 of the applications – including those made by adults accompanied by their children – to be unfounded.
The 34 have already been notified of these decisions and the deadline for lodging an appeal (ten days) is underway.
On August 9, the judge on duty at Silves Court ordered the forced removal of the migrants and their transfer to temporary accommodation centres (in Porto and Faro). If the migrants do not express their intention to return voluntarily, their forced removal has a legal deadline of 60 days.