WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE - News Journal UPDATE - (en) France, OCL CA #337 - Without Borders 337 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Since the cynical vote on this new immigration law on December 19, it is
urgent    to organize collectively to oppose it. Only a broad social
movement will allow this and several collectives and organizations are
working on it but they are not all going in the same direction. At the
start of the year, it is a dispersed departure between the mobilization
of Sunday January 14 and that of January 21. ---- January 14 was an idea
of the collectives of undocumented immigrants gathered within the
Solidarity March. The participation was notable with around 25,000
people announced in Paris, 6,000 in Marseille, 2,500 in Lyon and Rennes,
1,500 in Montpellier, Grenoble, Saint-Étienne, etc. The Parisian
procession was very diverse and not just made up of collectives of
undocumented immigrants, which is a good sign on the "amplitude" of the
mobilization. There were banners from Parisian schools mobilized (see
below), students as well as the hospital and even sports community a few
months before the Olympics. As for the unions - CGT in the lead but also
Solidaires who ended up calling for the 14th, urgently but too late to
mobilize - they were not there because the latter preferred to stick to
the timetable of the government and the CFDT in calling for
mobilization, the following Sunday, January 21. A few days before the
opinion of the constitutional council on the law - many of which say
that the "hardest" articles will be censored. Some union bases did not
appreciate it at all, like Sud 94 which is very invested in supporting
the struggle of undocumented immigrants from Chronopost. As for the
collectives of undocumented immigrants organized within the Marche des
Solidarités, they do not allow themselves to be fooled by this
bargaining and have refused to act as if nothing had happened and to
kindly follow the CGT. They also published a press release indicating
that they would not participate in the day of January 21 which fell from
the sky following a column published on January 7 by more than 200
"personalities".

Despite these tensions, the mobilization of January 21 was a success,
75,000 according to the State, 150,000 according to the organizers.
There were a total of 160 demonstrations. In Paris, between 16 and
25,000 depending on the count, a dynamic procession with many
spontaneous departures without necessarily banners or slogans - well, it
was also a Sunday stroll with families, etc. The unitary banner was
found three quarters of the way through the demonstration! Elsewhere, in
the region, a lot of people too. In Rennes, between 2,500 and 4,000,
there was a large mobilization with people and organizations that we
never usually see. At the best, but paper checks by the police at the
start...    More than 1,200 people in Limoges where associations had
taken precedence over unions and parties; the prefecture has been
repainted by egg throwing on the prefecture but no new meeting date
because the unions are slowing down by speculating on the decision of
the constitutional council.

One thing is certain, there is tension between the activist bases and
the political leaderships. In a way, the political responses are
reminiscent of the situation in the 1930s. Part of the left and the
union leaderships are seeking an alliance on the right with the most
liberal sectors of the bourgeoisie against the development of fascism.
This is the basis of their call to demonstrate on January 21. Quite
logically, they resist calling for a strike against the racist law so as
not to alienate their "allies", such as the CFDT. In any case, it is
interesting to note this disjunction and the refusal of the base to let
the calendar be dictated to them. The next mobilization date is Saturday
February 3 and for the moment only the Parisian meeting is known: 2 p.m.
Place de la République.

Source: The march of solidarity, class autonomy, militant uprisings

This is the figure put forward by the Ministry of the Interior itself!
and that's 63,000 euros more than accommodating a migrant on English
soil. This price includes the plane ticket, administrative costs, but
above all there are 122,000 euros paid to the "third country", Rwanda.
We then understand the persistence of the Kagame government in wanting
to conclude this agreement. On the British side, the financial argument
no longer holds up but politicians are banking on the importance of this
dissuasive measure - deportation to Rwanda - to prevent migrants from
crossing the Channel. They even calculate that the mechanism would be
profitable if 2/5th of migrants are deterred. This is not the first
attempt by the British government to make the country less attractive.
For several years, there has been an increase in coercive measures
against foreigners: installation of asylum seekers on barges, limitation
of family reunification for foreign students, anti-Albanian campaign on
Facebook, etc. As a reminder, the text on departures to Rwanda is still
under negotiation. Rejected for the first time by the Supreme Court, he
came back through the window with the signing of a new treaty with
Rwanda which will be recognized as a safe third country and which
undertakes not to expel the deported person. The UNHCR is contesting
this new agreement and a new legal round is being prepared.

Source: Infomigrants

Meanwhile, the attempts to cross the Channel continue and the dramas
that go with them. On the night of January 13 to 14, 5 exiles died and
the bodies were recovered from the beach at Wimereux, a seaside resort
near Boulogne-sur-mer. The victims are of Syrian origin, they were young
men (14, 16, 24 and 26 years old), all from the city of Deraa in the
south of the country. According to Calais associations, they had been
waiting for several weeks under the bridges of Calais. Smugglers use the
"taxi-boat" technique, which consists of bringing a boat from the sea,
often inflatable, and boarding it as quickly as possible. Let us recall
the difficult weather conditions in the region: lots of rain, wind and
now the cold.

Source: Voix du Nord

Since the war in Ukraine, relations have become increasingly tense
between the two countries. Last April, Finland joined NATO and, from
then on, the border was militarized and even closed definitively in
December, following the signing of an agreement with the United States
for the use of Finnish military bases. Since then, between 2,000 and
3,000 migrants have been stuck on the Russian side. There are strong
suspicions of manipulation by Russia. This is not the first time that
migrants have been used to put pressure on the neighboring country or
the European Union; we can remember what happened between Turkey and
Greece and more recently between Belarus and Poland. Entry from the
south into Russia is made easier and exiles would pay 6,000 euros to
smugglers to reach the northern border. According to the Finnish
authorities, since August, 1,000 asylum requests have been registered
with people mainly from Somalia, Yemen or Iraq. Usually, there are
around ten requests per month. 55 Frontex agents were sent to the site.
At the same time, a fence is being built over 200 kilometers - the
border is 1,340 kilometers in total.

Source: Infomigrants

Let's be clear, state accountants are not beating around the bush, they
are recommending a new strategy to increase OQTF resolutions, in other
words expulsions. But this report published on January 4 provides
quantified elements of current policy. Undocumented immigrants are
estimated at 440,000 but the report highlights the lack of places in the
CRAs in relation to the OQTFs issued. Between 2019 and 2022, "5% of
foreigners in an irregular situation with an obligation to leave French
territory were placed" in the 22 CRAs in the territory. And of these 5%,
half were removed. This low "yield» is due to the difficulties
encountered in establishing identities and, more interestingly, to the
refusal of the flight crew to take off the plane with people opposing
their removal. Since August 2022, illegal foreigners convicted of
criminal offenses have been sent as a priority to CRA to increase
expulsion statistics. Naturally, the Court of Auditors recommends the
opening of new CRAs; this is also in progress because the calls for
tenders to build these prisons for foreigners have been launched, the
objective being to reach 3,000 places compared to today's 1700. While
the accounting body cries inefficiency, other figures show that France
is one of the countries which carries out the most forced removals from
the European Union According to Eurostat, 11,409 forced returns were
carried out in 2022 and 18,915 in 2019, the last pre-Covid year.
Emphasis is also placed on voluntary returns. With 4,979 assisted
returns carried out in 2022, France is significantly behind its European
neighbors: 26,545 in Germany in 2022. A voluntary return costs much less
than an expulsion: 2,200 euros compared to 4,400 euros. Finally, the
Court of Auditors mocks the organization of the border police which is
not meticulous and coordinated enough to take identities and centralize
them in a single file. The AGDREF software, which deals with the
management of foreigners in France, is declared obsolete because there
are gaps in the transfer of decisions to social security organizations
or social landlords. As for the prefectures, they are short of staff:
"over the last five years, the number of OQTFs issued has increased by
60% while the prefectural staff dedicated to the removal and litigation
of foreigners has increased by 9%". The prefectures with the most
migratory pressure are the North, Pas-de-Calais, Île-de-France,
Alpes-Maritimes and Rhône. The report is on the table of the ministries,
we will see what happens. In all cases, the tone is martial.

Source: Infomigrants

While the cold and snow affect a large part of French territory, a good
number of people are sleeping outside, including "migrants", a term
which hides various realities: people in transit, undocumented
immigrants, asylum seekers without housing, etc. On January 17, several
dozen unaccompanied minors from the Belleville park youth collective and
supportive residents interrupted the wishes of the mayor of the 20th,
collective of the 20th arrondissement of Paris to demand emergency
accommodation. For this specific case, but as is often the case, the
State refuses to recognize the minority of isolated young people in
support of minority assessment tests which are nevertheless denounced by
associations and doctors. In June, these young people settled in an
urban park; they were expelled there on October 17; there were then 471
people and most were put back on the streets. A collective was formed in
the neighborhood and young people took the floor and took the initiative.

Solidarity meals are organized as well as solidarity accommodation.
There are also political actions such as delegations to the town hall,
participation in demonstrations against the Darmanin law. Thanks to this
balance of power, 50 accommodation places were obtained but more are
needed, especially as solutions exist in the neighborhood including
places available in the neighboring high school (120 places at the Lycée
Charles de Gaulle) or the gymnasium municipal. The action of January 17
was a semi-success, 29 places were offered, but temporarily and in a
center not suitable for young people. Only 19 minors accepted.

Source: Collectif 20ème in solidarity with all migrants

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