The document presented at a meeting of the Superior Council for Internal Security, and to which Lusa had access, reveals that 387 people were removed, expelled or deported to Portugal, 117 more than the previous year.

The majority of citizens came from European countries (257), representing 66% of the total, and 130, equivalent to 34%, arrived in Portugal from countries outside Europe.

In relation to European countries, 107 Portuguese were removed from the United Kingdom, 90 from France, 17 from Belgium, 15 from the Netherlands, 13 from Germany, 10 from Luxembourg, 2 from Sweden, 2 from Turkey and 1 from Greece.

In the case of France and the United Kingdom, it was possible to specify the reason for expulsion in some cases, with at least 34 cases in France and 35 in the United Kingdom being motivated by the existence of a criminal record related to theft, robbery and domestic violence.

As for the 130 Portuguese expelled from countries outside Europe, there are 11 countries on this list: 38 Portuguese came from Canada, 50 from the United States of America, 20 from Venezuela, 8 from Australia, 8 from Mozambique, 1 from China, 1 from Egypt, 1 from Morocco, 1 from New Zealand and 1 from Zimbabwe.

Still, says RASI, these numbers could be higher since not all police forces in foreign countries where Portuguese people may have been removed, expelled or deported already have consolidated data from last year.

Regarding Portuguese people serving sentences abroad, RASI reports 1,449 Portuguese people, of which 47 were detained in 2024 alone. The majority are detained in Europe (1,292), followed by America (89), Asia (28), Africa (25) and Oceania (15).

Just like the number of deportees, the number of detainees abroad may also be higher since the information available to prepare the RASI concerns detainees who wished to inform consular services, since in most countries information relating to detainees may not be communicated to the country of origin, depending on the detainee's decision.