Lisbon, Aug. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - The first year of operation of the PSP's Foreigners and Borders Unit (UNEF), which marks its first anniversary on Friday, has presented a number of challenges at airports; the officers' union describes it as «a very dynamic year».
The UNEF, informally dubbed the «mini-SEF», began operations on 21 August 2025, and its main objectives are border control and monitoring of immigrants, responsibilities that previously fell to the now-defunct Immigration and Borders Service (SEF).
In this first year, UNEF has faced various challenges at airports, particularly in Lisbon, due to long queues of passengers at air border control caused mainly by the European border control system, which came into operation in October 2025 in phases and has been operating at full capacity since April, having already been partially suspended on several occasions due to waiting times.
«There is no doubt whatsoever that it was a very challenging year, all the more so as it was the year in which the new border control system was fully implemented, bringing additional challenges to a role that the PSP itself was still getting to grips with, developing and learning. All of this presented opportunities for growth,» the president of the National Union of Police Officers (SNOP) told Lusa.
Bruno Pereira considered that the PSP «made immense sacrifices», with the national leadership having taken «strategic decisions to ensure a stronger response to what was an immense need, particularly in airport security».
He noted that over the last two months, the border service has overcome challenges by extending the border area and deploying nearly 400 additional police officers.
The president of the trade union representing the majority of PSP commanders and directors also highlighted the fact that UNEF is diverting significant police resources, particularly human resources, arguing that the response to the airports was «driven by the whims of the moment and under tremendous political and media pressure».
Bruno Pereira argued that «compensation mechanisms and tools, as well as managerial flexibility, could have been introduced to avoid deploying so many police officers at the borders of international airports and would have allowed some of those nearly 400 officers to be assigned to the country's regional commands, which have a significant need for additional resources».
The trade unionist stated that, if there were the possibility of paying overtime or honoraria, «the command structures at the airports would have been better able to manage the response during only certain periods of the day».
«It is possible to keep the [air] border staffed with police officers only during peak periods. There is an opportunity to improve the allocation of resources,» he said.
Bruno Pereira also noted that, «from a political or strategic point of view», air borders are «the top priority», leaving «the internal border with even fewer resources».
«We have done a very good job of controlling who comes here, but then we have an opportunity to further ensure the protection of those very same people once they are already here,» he explained.
The leader of the PSP officers' union stated that the regional units for the control and monitoring of foreign nationals are «still in the process of being set up».
According to Bruno Pereira, a few police stations host foreign nationals' units, yet «most are still awaiting the assignment of police officers to carry out this task», and he called for «significant investment in internal monitoring».
Lusa has asked the PSP for an assessment of the UNEF's first year of operation and is awaiting a response.
Following the abolition of the SEF over two years ago, the PSP assumed some of this security service's responsibilities – notably the control of air borders – and expanded its remit on 21 August last year by creating the UNEF.
In addition to airport security and border control – which includes the Temporary Accommodation Centre (CIT) for foreign nationals in Porto (Santo António Housing Unit) and facilities equivalent to CITs at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports – the UNEF is also responsible for the removal, readmission and return of undocumented migrants, tasks which the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) had previously handled.
CMP/ADB // ADB.
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