the hardship of going back home

Let's start in Canada where illegal Portuguese immigrants are being sent back home. Here's an article from a Canadian television network CTV.ca.

This week a Portugese family, the Ferreiras, lost a battle they had fought since 1999 to stay in the country. They had been advised by an immigration consultant to apply for political refugee status, despite the fact Portugal has a good human rights record.

They were expected to board a plane Sunday to return to Portugal after exhausting all avenues with Immigration Canada.

Members of the Portugese community have complained that illegal immigrants working in the construction industry are being kicked out of the country at a higher rate than normal recently.

Solberg said there is no truth to those claims.

I do feel some pity for those people having to go back to Portugal, but why would you get suckered by some lawyer to claim refugee status? Portugal can be a scary place, but it doesn't persecute anyone, not is there any war (unless you think about being stuck in a bar in a Porto vs. Benfica game where there's fans from both sides in the bar and it's a tie game with 2 minutes to go). I do feel sad for those families, but doesn't it need to be said that they should have followed the rules like every other immigrant that is in Canada? (p.s. CTV ...It's spelt Portuguese, not Portugese...a simple spell checker would catch that)

Here's another article.

"Everybody has a life here," said Joao, a construction worker who came to
Canada for an Easter vacation seven years ago and stayed.

"It's so hard. You don't expect to leave right away."

Most families, who had established jobs, homes and cars, were given less than two weeks to sell their possessions and settle their lives here

I want to focus on a particular portion of the quote from the article: [...] a construction worker who came to Canada for an Easter vacation seven years ago and stayed. He stayed after coming for an Easter vacation? It may not be the time to judge these people, but they had been here seven years illegally? Two things we should ask ourselves - (1) Why hasn't immigration said anything earlier? and (2) Have they developed ulcers from worrying about whether they would be caught since they're here illegally?

It's great that you want to have a good life, and you shouldn't be denied that, but everyone had to go through immigration to stay legal. There shouldn't be exemptions to the rule. If I was in their position would I want special treatment? Sure, but does that mean I would get it? Probably not. Live and learn. Best of luck to all those families.

eurovision, fashion & slicked hair styles

The Eurovision contest is coming up in May, and we should be really proud for our entry. Cheesy as ever, these girls are going to represent us with a ABBA-esque song, which, I've had the unfortunate opportunity to hear and sounds just like every other generic pop/dance song on the radio in Europe, so it's got a great chance to win!

What else has been going on in Portugal?

Lisbon Fashion Week took place, great event, great clothes.



Nuno Gomes manages to do some acrobatic work, but still doesn't win it against Naval, almost taking themselves out of contention to win this year's championships, but they did win against Liverpool, and are off to the quarterfinals against Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Porto and Sporting are fighting it out for first place in the championship. Go Sporting!

The Portuguese national team played a friendly with Saudi Arabia, where they won 3-0. I imagine that Cristiano Ronaldo's perfectly coifed hair must have had something to do with the win.

In other news, not requiring photos:

• Cavaco Silva was sworn in as President of Portugal on March 9th
• Mourinho, the always popular Portuguese Chelsea coach, thinks people are jealous of him
• Lots of people are talking about our Eurovision song, listen to them here.

That's all that's fit to report,

Until next time, I am,

Uma Portuguesa