In a statement from the PSP, quoted by the Lusa news agency, reviewing the year 2025 regarding the monitoring of the stay of foreign citizens in the country, the Public Security Police highlights the increase in inspection and control actions carried out last year by the Foreigners and Border Control Unit of the Lisbon Metropolitan Command, under the coordination of the National Foreigners and Borders Unit (UNEF).

When questioned by Lusa about 2024 data, a PSP source said that the data cannot be compared, as the police inherited this competence from the former SEF at the end of 2023, and the foreigners’ units were formed in 2024.

The PSP indicates that last year it carried out 94 police operations in the area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Command, resulting in the inspection of 6,785 foreign citizens.

According to the PSP, these police actions resulted in 30 arrests for irregular stay in the country and other offences related to foreigners, 99 notifications for voluntary departure, and 184 administrative offences under the Foreigners Law.

The PSP also detected 132 citizens with pending proceedings in the Schengen Information System (SIS).

This security force also says that last year it carried out 1,537 inspections and investigations to analyse accommodation reports of foreign citizens staying in the country and of those travelling to establishments/accommodations for verification and inspection following complaints that come to the attention of the police.

The PSP also maintains that, through the Foreigners and Border Control Units and the UNEF, it "reinforces daily action in the prevention and repression of illicit activities related to illegal immigration and human trafficking, as well as in the detection of situations of social vulnerability, often associated with precarious housing conditions and difficulty of access to a regulated labour market".