Portuguese police warn of rising irregular migrants arriving by train and bus
The PSP said more undocumented migrants are entering Lisbon and Porto via trains and buses from other EU cities.
The Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP) alerted authorities to a growing flow of irregular migrants reaching the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas by train and bus from other European cities. Deputy national director João Ribeiro, who oversees the Unidade Nacional de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras, explained that while the phenomenon is not entirely new, data show a noticeable rise in these secondary movements. Migrants are disembarking at major bus terminals and railway stations, often without the intention of staying in Portugal but using it as a transit point toward destinations like Ireland, which requires an air border crossing.
The PSP has the capacity to perform mobile border controls at these locations and plans to intensify monitoring in the coming months. Ribeiro also noted cooperation with other European border police forces, stressing that Portugal's external borders remain a risk but the internal EU movements are now the primary concern.
