443 days after the entry into force of the Decree Law defining the restructuring of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), with the transfer of its powers to five different entities and a month and a half before the new deadline (the third) indicated by the government to start the process to complete, the Minister of Internal Affairs assured that “the political goal must be achieved”.
However, he did suggest that In any case, SEF will continue to exist until the end of World Youth Day (WYD), in August, well past March 31, the new planned extinction date.
asked during the Wednesday auditionby the deputies of 1st Parliamentary Committee on how border controls would be carried out, after the restructuring of the SEF, during the WYD, which is estimated to have more than 1.5 million people in Lisbon, Jose Luis Carneiro he said the SEF inspectors who were in those roles will remain at the air, sea and land borders, plus the PSP and GNR employees trained for this purpose.
But several issues will still need to be resolved, such as the status of the new Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA)who inherits the entire administrative part of the SEF, namely granting asylum and residence permits to foreigners.
Although the creation of APMA is also provided for in the same restructuring diploma since November 29, 2021, the team of Deputy Minister Ana Catarina Mendes has not yet presented a final document.
In addition, as DN already reported, the proposal that its directors have civil service status and salaries (above the police) is not peaceful within the executive branch and will not like Jose Luís Carneiro.
Moreover, despite the fact that the solution (with which the SEF inspectors were satisfied) to hand them all over to the PJ was announced almost three months ago, still it is not clear how many of these inspectors have to remain at the borders.
According to a union source, nor has it yet been said for how long and under what commandmaking it clear that they “will not accept” being on behalf of the PSP or the GNR.
According to Jose Luis Carneiro, SEF has trained 154 GNR employees to date (power inheriting control of maritime borders) and 160 PSP elements (responsible for air borders) in the field of border control, with the training of 88 additional PSP Agents.
So a total of 402 elements, a number equal to the approximately 400 the SEF has at these checkpoints, this service also carried out, among other things, the assessment of asylum and visa applications, which will be done by APMA from now on, such as . That is, taking into account these figures, the PSP and the GNR practically no longer need to ask the PJ for inspectors.
This is if the figures put forward by the president of the largest PSP union are not true. Paulo Jorge Santos, president of the Union Association of Police Professionals (ASPP-PSP) defended that, to inherit SEF’s powers, this security force will have to “place 800 to 900 police officers in general numbers” at national air borders”.
The Minister assured that the SEF is currently cooperating with the PJ in relation to combating illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings and the PSP is with the SEF at the air borders, as it had been done over the summer, and stressed that “the borders are open to nationals continue to rely on all inspectors and now reinforced with the PSP and the GNR”.
Source: DN
