Catholic Migration Service says AIMA staff are suffering from ‘burnout’

The director of the Portuguese Catholic Service for Migration (OCPM), Eugenia Quaresma, said on Monday that the staff of the Integration, Migration and Asylum Agency (AIMA) are “burning out”, believing that there are not enough human resources.

“We feel and we know that some AIMA staff are suffering from burnout, so they are actually working overtime,” Eugenia Quaresma said at a press conference at the Sanctuary of Fatima, where the international pilgrimage of Augustus, part of the national pilgrimage of migrants and refugees, begins today.

The official added that there were “church institutions that were receiving emails outside of business hours.”

The National Federation of Trade Unions of Public and Social Functions Workers (FNSTFPS) has declared an overtime strike at AIMA due to a lack of human resources.

“We were prompted to take this decision by the problems that have arisen at AIMA since its inception, which are closely related to the lack of personnel,” said Luse Artur Cerqueira, director of FNSTFPS, today.

The strike notice period is from August 22 to December 31.

The OCPM director reiterated that “this time the transition period is [do Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras para a AIMA] It was unpleasant, despite all the efforts of people to remain calm and serenity.”

“But the truth is that there are not enough resources and this is being repeated by various institutions and this strike that has been announced is another voice saying that there are not enough resources and therefore this needs to be worked on,” he said.

Regarding the possible consequences of the legislative changes in the criteria for entry of immigrants into Portugal, Eugenia Quaresma believes that “it made sense to stop the expression of interest, since there was abuse”.

“They were created to respond in a timely manner to the real need for labour that we have in Portugal,” he said, acknowledging that abuses had begun to exist that had created “a problem in the system.”

Eugenia Quaresma, however, stressed that, “as the local institutions are very good at warning,” there is still a void, wondering how “the question of who is already involved in the process or who is still pending is resolved.”

“This measure does not solve everything. It is necessary, on the one hand, to give time, on the other hand, to improve the conditions and resources that are available on the ground, so that we can respond not only to unresolved issues, but to the people who come and come,” he added.

The Migration Action Plan presented by the government in June envisages the end of the expression of interest mechanism that allowed an immigrant to obtain a residence permit.

That same month, the then president of AIMA said there were 410,000 immigration cases pending in Portugal.

Speaking before the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, Luis Gus Pinheiro said that in the chapter on “Procedures for Expression of Interest and Administrative Residence Permits” there are 342 thousand unresolved issues, in addition to “70 thousand processes that are being processed.”

In total, the maximum number of unresolved issues is “just over 400 thousand” requests that must be resolved by the Portuguese authorities, Goes Pinheiro told MPs.

At the press conference, Eugenia Quaresma also listed responses to the challenges facing the Catholic Church in matters of migration, such as “recognizing and overcoming fear,” and combating intolerance and xenophobia.

Facilitating encounters, listening and compassion, living in catholicity, recognizing migrants as a blessing, fulfilling the Church’s evangelizing mission and collaborating for the purpose of communion – that is all the rest.

In the end, he highlighted the misinformation circulating on social media to thank “all those who serve the truth and who contribute” to information and “change the narrative on migration.”