24/04/2025 – 15/05/2025
- On 13 May, a 39-year-old Eritrean migrant died in Calais after being hit by a truck in which he was trying to hide. The driver was taken into custody.
- On 12 May, in line with the anti-migration policy line defended by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, the Senate adopted a law aimed a texpelling associations from administrative detention centres (CRA). If this law is then validated by the National Assembly, the associations will be replaced by the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII). Obviously, in order to carry out the policy desired by the Minister of the Interior, this body would be under his supervision.
- On the night of 11 to 12 May, one person died and six others were found injured after trying to cross the Channel. Several rescue operations took place that weekend and a total of 192 migrants were rescued.
- On 11 May, the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, sent a letter to all the courts testifying to his desire to reform “access to justice, prison administration and prison overcrowding”. In reality, it is extending France’s anti-migration policy by aiming to expel incarcerated foreigners to their country of origin.
- Through an essay illustrated with photographs published in The Guardian on 5 May, photojournalist Ozan Acidere describes and denounces the plight of migrants in Calais. Around 700 people from Sudan, Syria and Eritrea are living in precarious conditions. Three times a week, they are subjected to police evictions. The camps are systematically dismantled, while the militarization of the borders intensifies, to the detriment of those who seek refuge.
- On May 5, according to a press release issued by the European Agency for Asylum, Haitians and Ukrainians represent a fifth of the asylum applications received by France in February 2025.
- Illustrating once again his anti-migration policy, Bruno Retailleau published a new circular on May 4 concerning the naturalization of foreigners where it is written that “case law establishes naturalization not as a right, but as a sovereign decision of the government.” In this text, the minister lists elements attesting to the “exemplary nature of the applicant’s career” such as professional integration over five years, stable resources, a very demanding command of the French language, etc.
- On Tuesday 29 April, five associations (Forum Réfugiés-Cosi, France terre d’asile, the SOS Solidarités – Assfam Group, Cimade and Solidarité Mayotte) working in administrative detention centres (CRA) published their annual report. Although the report indicates a decrease in the number of so-called irregular persons placed in administrative detention centres (CRA) in 2024 – 40,592 compared to 46,955 in 2023 – the average length of detention has increased with an average of 33 days. While the Minister of the Interior is considering extending the maximum duration of detention, the situation seems far from improving. In 2024, the majority of those selected were from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.