A vast identity control operation was carried out on June 18 and 19 in French stations. About 4,000 agents were mobilized to arrest people in an irregular situation. A demonstration of “zero tolerance” wanted by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, criticized by unions and associations.
Some 4,000 members of the police – police, gendarmes, customs and soldiers of the “sentry” operation – were deployed on June 18 and 19 in French stations within the framework of a vast operation baptized “fight against irregular and clandestine immigration”.
The objective: to challenge people in an irregular situation, especially in trains and on the outskirts of large stations. From the quays of the Gare du Nord, in Paris, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, justified this demonstration of force through a desire to convey a clear message: “Do not come to France, it is zero tolerance. »»
This operation is part of the line of a first similar initiative carried out on May 20 and 21, this time targeting the low -cost international buses. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 900 buses had then been checked, leading to 759 arrests of undocumented people. Among them, 245 were the subject of an obligation to leave the territory, 34 were placed in the detention center and 72 were readmitted in their country of entry into Europe.
If the precise assessment of the operation carried out in June was not yet communicated on Thursday evening, Bruno Retailleau already claims “significant results”.
In parallel, unions and human rights organizations denounce practices deemed brutal, evoking “roundups” and a security instrumentalization of migration issues.
This policy is part of a general hardening carried by the Minister, who had already affirmed, in another file, “assume to tighten the criteria” in matters of naturalization.
