The Minister specified that the Coquelles CRA does not have the capacity to meet the
atypical requirements of the numerous migrants that need to be placed in detention, and it is
therefore necessary to place a part of them in other CRA across the national territory. He stated
that, every day and across the territory, people are placed in administrative detention outside the
department and even outside the place in which they were taken into custody, and that moreover,
since the objective of the detention is to identify the detainees, priority is given to placing them in
administrative detention in CRA in the Paris region (close to the consulates) or in those close to
the France-Italy border due to the Schengen or Dublin re-entries.
As regards access to legal remedy, the Minister stated that the placement in a faraway CRA
is determined at the same time as the decision to place the person in detention, and that these
procedures do not hinder the exercising of the right to asylum. In addition, he informed the
Contrôleur général that the intervention of the liberty and custody judge was reduced to 48 hours
in the bill pertaining to the rights of foreign nationals.
As regards the physical conditions of custody and detention for the purpose of verifying
the right of residence, the Minister indicated that each person is provided with sheets and that
toilets were present in the individual cells. The Minister specified that the law dissociates the
decision of the obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) from the decision determining the
country of destination. He indicated that the obligation of not separating minors from their parents
is meticulously respected. A reminder of the instructions was given concerning the absence of
interpreters in the Paris-Vincennes CRA.
As regards the misuse of placing people in administrative detention, the Minister disputed
the analysis of the Contrôleur général. He indicated firstly that the prefect cannot and must not
presume the completion of the deportation procedure when he initiates it and that it is physically
impossible for the questioning services to carry out the documentary verifications of people before
they are placed in administrative detention. He specified that pursuant to applicable law, the
prefects do not demand for the foreign national to be kept in administrative detention beyond five
days if no identification information on that person was found within this period; the person is
freed in this case. On the other hand, extending the detention period is systematically done if there
is a possibility of identification and therefore the deportation of the person involved. He added
that the Pas-de-Calais prefecture supported extending the detention period in 45% of the cases.
Finally, concerning the scheduling of the transfers organised according to a predefined
frequency, the Minister justified this practice using the size of the migration flows and the intense
activity of taking people in for questioning. He added that the rhythm of these transfers has
decreased, from forty-three people per day on an average at the start of this practice to an average
of twenty-seven from 1 November, specifying that the reduction of placements should allow
improving the monitoring of the measures and an increase in the rate of execution of deportation
measures.
The Contrôleur général upheld her observations and her analysis of the
collective transfers. She was satisfied concerning the fact that the intervention
of the liberty and custody judge was reduced to 48 hours in the bill pertaining
to the rights of foreign nationals, which had been a recommendation of the
Contrôleur général for several years. She regrets that, while the number of
people transferred daily has reduced, this practice has not yet been ended.
2. Three opinions published in the Journal Officiel [Official
Gazette]
44
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