French police lose power to detain illegal immigrants
France’s highest court has ruled that the country’s police can no longer arrest and detain illegal immigrants unless they are suspected of having committed a criminal offence.
http://www.france24.com/en/20120706-police-lose-automatic-power-detain-illegal-immigrants-france-court
Illegal immigrants in France can no longer be held in police
custody simply for not having residency papers, the country’s highest
court ruled on Thursday.
Until now, police could detain “sans-papiers” [“without papers”, the
French term for illegal aliens] even if they had not committed a crime.
Under French law, police detention only applies to people suspected
of having committed an offence punishable with a prison term.
Police detention is limited to 24 hours, although it can be extended
to 48 if further inquiries have to be made. Being an illegal alien,
under French law, is not a criminal offence.
Being an illegal alien is not a crime in France
On Thursday the French “Cour de Cassation” [the country’s highest court] ruled in favour of a group of illegal immigrants who claimed their detentions were in breach of European law.
On Thursday the French “Cour de Cassation” [the country’s highest court] ruled in favour of a group of illegal immigrants who claimed their detentions were in breach of European law.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls said after the ruling that the
government would act swiftly to amend French law, although he maintained
that “the ultimate removal of illegal aliens [from France] must remain
central to any legislation on this issue.”
Immigrants’ rights groups were delighted with the decision to halt
what were effectively automatic arrests, a situation that affects some
60,000 people a year in France.
“To date the police have been arresting and detaining immigrants on a
massive scale,” said Agathe Marin, spokeswoman for the Cimade refugees’
association that represented the immigrants in the court.
“After they are detained, most of these people are released anyway,”
she told FRANCE 24. “We hope that this ruling will ensure that the
police are respectful of immigrants’ basic rights and stop treating them
like criminals.”
Cimade has been putting the government under pressure since April
2011 when the European Court of Justice ruled that member nations could
only arrest illegal aliens if they had committed an imprisonable
offence.
Sarkozy’s administration more hostile to illegals
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s right wing UMP administration, voted out in May and June in favour of the current Socialist government, was notoriously hostile to illegal immigration.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s right wing UMP administration, voted out in May and June in favour of the current Socialist government, was notoriously hostile to illegal immigration.
Sarkozy’s government argued that keeping illegal immigrants in police
custody for a limited time was compatible with the EU ruling, while
various courts issued contradictory verdicts on the precise legality of
locking them up.
Patrice Spinosi, Cimade’s barrister at the court told FRANCE 24 that
Thursday’s ruling meant that dealing with illegal aliens was now an
“administrative rather than criminal procedure” and that French police
would now be obliged to “comply with European law.”
“The priority will remain to accompany these immigrants back to the
border, but that is not compatible with locking them up,” he said.
Spinosi, however, denied that Thursday’s ruling was in any way politically motivated.
“The fundamental difference now is that we have a government that is
ready to change the country’s laws,” he said. “The previous government
knew it was running the risk of being in breach of European law but
refused to reform.”
The UMP’s spokesman for security issues called for “quick change in
legislation which does not leave our police operating in an uncertain
legal situation.”
The far-right National Front, meanwhile, was indignant. “This ruling
is lax, ultraliberal, and pandering to the whims of a European legal
oligarchy,” the party said in a statement.
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