Collomb circular on migrants: the government seeks to demine

After the controversy, mine clearance. Asked on France Info about the circular of December 12, which stipulates that “mobile teams” will be dispatched to emergency accommodation centers in order to identify foreigners, lhe Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau gave a less repressive reading of this text, which unleashed the associations helping undocumented migrants.

“These are not patrols, insisted the minister on Tuesday. It is agents from the prefecture and the French Office for Immigration and Integration who will go to the accommodation centers to examine, for those who accept it, who will not force anyone, their administrative situation. And to insist: there will be “no obligation to answer”, “it is not a census, but an examination, a proposal”.

“Summons to the prefecture” for the recalcitrant

"It will not be coercive," assures the Ministry of the Interior. "Public officials will not be able to arrest migrants, or carry out identity checks, or put people on the street," added a ministerial adviser.

In recent days, several associations have slammed the door of discussions with the Ministry of the Interior to denounce a "sorting", a draconian text. On his side, Defender of Rights Jacques Toubon denounced an attack "on fundamental rights".

The government has therefore decided to lower the temperature. “This circular takes exaggerated proportions, it is necessary to clear the trick”, slips a government source. Nevertheless: the shift in communication does not blur the repressive dimensions of the text. Thus, if the persons questioned in the accommodation centers refuse to cooperate, "procedures" can be initiated against them, it is explained in a ministerial office, such as a "summons to the prefecture for an examination more complete of their file".