Marta Temido believes AIMA’s problems need to be “solved quickly”

The head of the PS list for Europeans considered on Tuesday that the problems of the Agency for Migration and Refugee Integration (AIMA) needed to be “quickly resolved”, remembering, however, that the agency was created less than a year ago.

“It’s pressure [sobre a instituição] it already existed, it is now reported more, and not because it is more or less clear that it is better or worse. Unfortunately, this situation must be resolved quickly. I think this is AIMA’s commitment,” said Marta Temido upon her arrival at the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP).

The socialist, who was health minister in the previous government, admitted that no one “thinks it’s normal or is satisfied” with hundreds of people gathering at the doors of AIMA for treatment.

However, Marta Temido stressed that it must not be forgotten that AIMA began its work in October 2023, being an institution that is not even a year old.

“Creating an institution with a lot of demand pressure and a significant backlog of work is an institution that faces great difficulties, so we have to give it some time,” he insisted.

SIC Notícias reported on Tuesday that immigrants are sleeping near AIMA to obtain passwords.

The head of the PS list for the European elections, which will be held on June 9, recalled that AIMA plans to regularly respond to pending requests until the end of the year.

AIMA is working to create a set of procedures that will allow it to respond faster, better and more comprehensively to requests for documentation from a group of citizens, he emphasized.

“As reported, we also have changes in procedures and so it is natural that there will be some disruptions,” Marta Temido said.

In October 2023, the government of António Costa achieved the closure of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), transferring its functions to AIMA.

When asked if the disappearance of the SEF was a positive development, Marta Temido replied that changes were necessary and that if it still existed it would have the same problems as AIMA, “there is no doubt about that.”

“This agency has a clear mission and I think all Portuguese understand the logic behind the creation of AIMA, which is based on the need to separate two functions: the border control function and the response function to document and integrate people,” he stressed.

Regarding European immigration policy, Marta Temido realized that what is happening in other countries is “much more difficult” than what is happening in Portugal because “the pressure is much stronger.”

Instead of queuing at public services, referring to what happens at AIMA, some countries have “camps where people are housed and rescued in the Mediterranean,” he stressed.

Believing that the problem that countries face in terms of immigration is great, the socialist candidate stressed that these problems will not be solved with the help of walls, as some political forces have proposed.

“I would like to note that there are political forces that have in their programs to respond to migration the construction of infrastructure, the protection of European territory and the resettlement of people arriving in Europe to third countries,” he said.

This is not the PS approach, he assured, emphasizing that this is also not an approach to unbridled accession to the European Union, as some countries advocate, but rather a humanistic and realistic approach.