A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #353 - Detention of Palestinian nationals, fight against the opening of a detention center in Nantes: without borders! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Unaccompanied minors fighting for their schooling and housing -- 27% 
decrease in irregular entries into the EU -- Fight against the opening 
of 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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