Semi-uncontrolled traffic and the subordination of immigrants. Between Asia and Europe. The rise of the extreme right

Abstract

Intense global flows have led to an increase in migrant populations in European countries and in Portugal in particular. The growing difficulty of citizens from countries like Bangladesh, India or Pakistan in legalizing themselves and the political processes of rejection of those migrants - The Brexit for example - led to the search for alternatives to these routes dating back to the colonial era and the forced labor of indigenous people. Meanwhile, centuries later, smuggling is a reality, and it is in this context that Portugal in the post-crisis 2008 has become a legislatively friendlier country for immigrants, particularly through measures taken by the socialist government elected in 2015. Many of these immigrants, who - in some cases for decades - have not seen their relatives, could in 2018 fulfill that wish and some of them settled in Portugal, bringing their wives and having children already with Portuguese nationality. We will try to clarify how this process started in 2015 was developed and revealing, a social condition of individuals as unwanted pariahs and subjects of an illegal, and therefore exploitable body. The role of the state in overcoming this condition turns out essential.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.010-038