“The Government was informed by AIMA that it is issuing 4,574 notifications for foreign citizens in an illegal situation to leave national territory,” said Leitão Amaro, in statements to journalists, at the Government headquarters, in Lisbon.

According to the governor, this is the first group of immigrants notified of a total of 18,000 rejections.

Leitão Amaro's statements came after Jornal de Notícias (JN) reported that more than 4,000 immigrants will have to leave the country.