AIMA “has done nothing” since substituting former SEF foreigners and borders agency
With every political force decrying the ‘racist attacks’ in Porto last Friday, Porto mayor Rui Moreira has gone further, calling for the extinction of AIMA, the acronym for the Agency for Migration Integration and Asylum, saying it has “done nothing since it took office”.
AIMA is frequently in the news (because of complaints), but no one has yet demanded that it be axed definitively.
Rui Moreira’s reasoning appears to have developed from a contact made to his office in the aftermath of the attacks.
“My office was contacted on Saturday by the president of AIMA who, surprisingly, came to ask what he could do.
“This agency, with a budget of over 80 million euros, 34 branches and 740 employees (…) what did it do?’ he asked, adding that all he can deduce is that it is “an ineffective agency that wastes public money”.
Rui Moreira is just the latest political figure to decry the violence of last Friday, insisting that nothing can possibly justify it.
“It is unacceptable to say that it happened in response to other crimes that are happening in the area”, he said. “It is a hate crime” that “must be taken seriously, especially by the political powers”.
Today, stories are suggesting that the one man in custody, and five ‘identified’ are linked to the far right group known as 1143, whose spokesman is Mário Machado.
PJ and PSP police continue to investigate.
