“Everyone is passing the buck on this file and it is not moving forward.
But they can't take it any longer, ”laments Me Karima Hadj Saïd.
This Tuesday, the lawyer once again visited clients not quite like the others: these Algerian citizens still stuck in the international zone of Roissy airport (Val-d'Oise) for more than forty days.
It all starts for them on March 2.
Passengers from London (United Kingdom) stop in France in order to catch a plane to Algeria.
But they cannot board because of overbooking.
At the same time, Algeria is taking drastic measures concerning entries into its territory, in order to limit the spread of Covid-19.
It is at this moment that it becomes impossible for 25 of them, despite their visa, their Algerian passport and negative PCR tests on their departure to return to their country which opposes them to an end of inadmissibility.
After a long wait with no prospect in the middle of the terminal, 19 of them have just left Roissy for destinations which were therefore not theirs.
To London for those with dual nationality and because an agreement has been reached on the cost of compulsory confinement on arrival.
“But there is among them a father and his daughter who is nevertheless educated in Algeria.
She will miss her year, ”laments the lawyer.
The others go to Morocco or Tunis while waiting to be able, one day, to return to Algeria.
"We have taken steps to try to unblock the situation on several occasions"
However, six people still remain without solution, their visa having died out during this interminable stopover.
Like this elderly woman on treatment for hypertension who was on a family visit to London.
“Another has walked all night in the corridors, so he can't take it anymore.
He had to be taken care of by the Red Cross ”, underlines Me Karima Hadj Saïd.
She turns to Algeria to find a solution although in an interview with Canal Algeria last week, the ambassador to France once again closed the door to their repatriation.
In fact, the lawyer is also looking towards France.
“We hope to have a residence permit on French territory.
We have contacted the Interior Ministry on this point but we have no answer, ”she regrets, also placing hope in an intervention by MP Aurélien Taché, who tried to visit them on Tuesday, without success.
Contacted, the Ministry of the Interior did not respond to our requests.
On the Quai d'Orsay side, we are monitoring the file.
“We have taken steps to try to unblock the situation on several occasions, both with Algerian representatives in France and at the diplomatic level.
But Algeria is a sovereign country and this problem is their responsibility ”, it is stressed.