Unaccompanied minors fighting for their schooling and housing -- 27%
decrease in irregular entries into the EU -- Fight against the openingof a detention center in Nantes -- Extension of the special protection
granted to Ukrainian refugees -- Work visa fraud in the United Kingdom
-- Detention of Palestinian nationals ---- Unaccompanied minors fighting
for their schooling and housing ---- Previously, we had already
discussed the creation of a national coordination of unaccompanied
minors in struggle, particularly with the presence of unaccompanied
minors from Belleville Park, Lille, Rouen, Toulouse, and Tours. On June
20, a collective mobilization was organized as the written baccalaureate
exams were ending, and the date also coincided with World Refugee Day.
The watchword is the schooling of unaccompanied minors (MNA) without all
the existing administrative obstacles: online procedures without
translation, requests for documents impossible for MNAs to provide,
excessively long placement delays, lack of stable housing, difficulties
obtaining supplies or school meals, and sometimes refusal to place them
in UPE2A (educational units for newly arrived non-French-speaking
students) or NSA (previously unschooled) classes. Finally, when official
recognition of minority status arrives, and thus mandatory protection
from the Child Welfare Services (ASE), some young people are placed in
foster care and abruptly deregistered from their schools without
automatic re-enrollment. The situations vary considerably depending on
the school district. In the Paris district, 150 young people are left
without placements. For this back-to-school season, the mobilization
remains strong, as seen, for example, in Lille, where unaccompanied
minors and their supporters (Utopia 56, departmental and national
education unions) held a rally while young people spent the entire day
in an urban park. They have just obtained a meeting with the deputy
director of the department in charge of Child Welfare Services (ASE).
Meanwhile, the young people in Belleville Park are also continuing their
struggle. During the European Heritage Days, the collective occupied
Paris City Hall. To be continued.
Source: National Coordination of Unaccompanied Minors in Struggle, La
Voix du Nord
27% decrease in irregular entries into the EU
These are the figures from Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard,
and they concern the beginning of 2025 - from January to April. This
refers to the number of crossings, not the number of individuals, given
that a person can attempt to cross a border multiple times. It's
important to remember that the EU is a free movement area only for its
citizens and within the Schengen Area. At the external borders of this
area, it's a fortress, patrolled by Frontex, against which thousands of
migrants are thwarted and turned back. Thus, since the beginning of the
year, all migration routes have reportedly seen less traffic, with the
most significant decrease occurring in the Balkans, down by 58%. Among
the causes, the dirty work of the border guards (and by extension,
Frontex) has clearly borne fruit, with the increase in brutal pushbacks
at the borders of Greece and Bulgaria. Numerous migrant testimonies
speak of "pushbacks" in Greece, for example, where border police
violently expel boats without respecting the right to asylum. Other
reasons cited include the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the
particularly harsh weather conditions this winter. In the Canary Islands
(Spain), there has also been a 34% decrease in irregular entries. This
is mainly due to the tightening of Mauritania's migration policy, where
most migrants embark for the crossing to the Canaries and where checks
are carried out in major cities and on highways. Mauritanian authorities
have announced the arrest of more than 30,000 migrants in four months
primarily people from Mali, Senegal, and Guinea as well as the
dismantling of numerous smuggling networks. Some of those arrested are
crammed into camps with deplorable humanitarian conditions. This
political shift occurred following the signing in March 2024 of a
bilateral agreement with the European Union, which essentially provides
for the strengthening of border controls and the detention of illegal
migrants in exchange for EUR210 million.
In terms of transit points (see map), the central Mediterranean remains
the busiest route, accounting for a third of arrivals, which corresponds
to more than 15,000 crossings. This figure is equivalent to last year's.
In order of nationality, the migrants are: Bangladeshis, then Eritreans,
Pakistanis, and Egyptians. The Eastern Mediterranean is the second major
crossing point, followed by the Strait of Dover, where the only increase
in crossings (+5%) has been observed. Since January 2025, more than
10,500 migrants have arrived in the United Kingdom via what are known as
small boats.
Source: Infomigrants
Fight against the opening of a detention center in Nantes
Since Darmanin's announcement in October 2022 of the opening of a
140-bed detention center by the end of 2027 and a shooting range for the
border police (!), resistance has been organizing. On May 17th, a
demonstration was held at the call of the Colère Nantes collective
(Coordination Opposed to the Detention and Repression of Foreigners),
composed of twenty-eight organizations, unions, political parties, and
local associations. There are also public awareness campaigns about the
realities of the detention centers: detention, violence, etc. Many
leaflets and public posters are being distributed. Finally, municipal
meetings are being disrupted, particularly those preparing for
commemorations, such as the one on May 10th for the abolition of
slavery. Indeed, the Socialist Party-led municipality is a particular
target because it implicitly approves this project. Previously, there
was already a detention center for foreigners, but it was located in the
basement of the Waldeck-Rousseau central police station. The new
detention center is to be built in the town of Carquefou, next to a
prison. All this for a cost of 40 million euros, not including the
salaries of the 200 police officers who will be assigned there.
Environmental concerns are also involved, as the project would require
clearing 7 hectares of Bois-Dormant, a wooded area home to protected
species and a green lung for residents of the La Beaujoire neighborhood.
The project's developer has a checkered past: the French company Egis,
accused of corruption in Yemen. Finally, the Socialist mayor, Johanna
Rolland, is facing pressure from the mobilization as the 2026 municipal
election campaign begins. She defends herself by saying that it falls
under the jurisdiction of the state, while building permits are her
responsibility. The Colère Nantes collective wants to go beyond local
activism and denounces the national policy of detaining foreigners. It
is worth recalling that the government's objective is to increase the
capacity of detention centers (CRAs) by 3,000 places by 2027. Cimade
estimates that nearly 40,000 people will be detained in CRAs in 2024,
the majority of them in Mayotte. The average length of detention has
increased from 16.6 days in 2018 to 32.8 days in 2024. Furthermore,
France has been condemned on numerous occasions by the European Court of
Human Rights for the detention of children in CRAs.
Source: Mediapart
Extension of special protection granted to Ukrainian refugees
This decision was unanimously adopted by the 27 member states of the
European Union on June 14. Ukrainian refugees benefit from special
status until March 2027, which allows them to work, access housing,
healthcare, and education. This measure was created in 2022 at the start
of the conflict with Russia. To date, there are 4.3 million Ukrainian
refugees in the EU. In France, 85,000 Ukrainians are present, which is
30 times fewer than in the Czech Republic or Poland and 15 times fewer
than in Germany, the three countries hosting the most refugees. It
should be noted that asylum applications are increasing, meaning that
many Ukrainians have no hope of returning to their hometowns,
particularly in the east of the country, which remains and will likely
remain Russian. In France, for example, in 2024, more than 11,000 asylum
applications were filed four times more than in 2023. Finally, tensions
are emerging in certain areas and are being exploited by the right and
far right, who are lying in wait on these migration issues, which
represent their political base. In Poland, the new nationalist
president, Karol Nawrocki, has promised to reduce benefits granted to
Ukrainian refugees. In Germany, too, the government plans to tighten
immigration policy and cut aid to Ukrainian refugees.
Source: Infomigrants
Work Visa Fraud in the UK
The scam involved charging up to EUR26,000 to unqualified migrants to
obtain skilled worker visas and bring them to the UK. It was perpetrated
by companies that told authorities they could not find qualified
employees in the UK and then requested sponsorship licenses (a type of
certificate issued to foreigners eligible for a visa) to recruit abroad.
This procedure is mandatory: a foreign worker must be sponsored by a
British employer to obtain a skilled worker visa.
Unscrupulous immigration consultants registered with the Office of the
Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) are now asking migrants to
inflate their educational qualifications to obtain entry permits in
exchange for substantial payments, ranging from EUR22,000 to EUR26,000.
However, once employed, these migrants are relegated to menial tasks for
meager wages. Worse still, they officially receive EUR3,500 per month (a
skilled wage) but pay back two-thirds to their employers, ultimately
receiving only EUR900 per month. As a result, more than 931,000
fraudulent visas were issued between 2020 and 2023 in sectors such as
healthcare, IT, and science. Since last April, the rules have changed: a
foreign worker must now present a job offer and a salary of at least
£38,700 per year (nearly EUR46,000) to obtain a skilled worker visa.
Source: Infomigrants
Detention of Palestinian Nationals
While Macron may speak emphatically at the UN to recognize the State of
Palestine and call for an end to the "massacres," his police (in this
case, the Border Police) remain fiercely hostile towards foreigners.
Thus, in September, several Palestinians were turned back upon
disembarking their planes in France and placed in holding areas, denied
entry into the country. Many were simply in transit to another
destination. The risk is that these people will be sent back to their
point of origin and, through a domino effect, end up once again in
Palestine, where a genocide is indeed taking place.
Source: Solidarity March
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4550
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