Reinforced controls in Ile-de-France train stations against illegal immigration

Spontaneously, the passengers hand out their tickets but this is not what interests the police, so early in Gare du Nord. “Hello, ID, please! Civil servants in civilian clothes asked in turn, on May 12, with the police armband in evidence, when the suburban trains arrived. They were 35, for an operation called "Schengen control", that the new prefect delegated to immigration in Ile-de-France Julien Marion wanted to publicize. "The fight against irregular immigration is a priority, controls will intensify" reminded the one who has been tasked, since this month of May, to "control migratory flows in Ile-de-France".

Like the airports or the ports, many Ile-de-France stations (Gennevilliers-Port, Meaux, Lognes, Toussus-le-Noble, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Le Bourget, Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly, Pontoise - Cormeilles- en-Vexin, Austerlitz, Est, Lyon, Bercy, Montparnasse, du Nord, Saint-Lazare, Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy, Massy stations, Charenton, Bagnolet bus stations) are classified in the international zone by decree, which authorizes the administration to carry out checks there without judicial requisition.

It is the sub-directorate of the police headquarters, dedicated to the fight against irregular immigration (SDLII) - created in 2017, it brings together 750 officials - which is in charge.

113 operations carried out at Gare du Nord since January

These checks rarely exceed more than an hour.

On Wednesday May 12, the operation carried out at the Gare du Nord in Paris ended at 8:30 am with 23 arrests, out of 145 people checked.

The people arrested were taken to the police station on rue de l'Aubrac to check their administrative situation.

Nine were released, two placed in detention with a view to their expulsion, the other twelve subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).

They have thirty days to leave the country.

Read also Why migrants have become (almost) invisible in Paris

"Out of 113 operations carried out at Gare du Nord since the start of the year, 2,300 people have been checked and 70 people in an irregular situation have been arrested," said Commissioner Vincent Probst, who oversees the department for the control of migratory flows within of the sub-directorate.

Between ten and fifteen operations are carried out each day within the jurisdiction of the police headquarters, Paris and the three departments of the inner suburbs.

The creation of the new delegation aims to coordinate the fight against irregular immigration in the eight departments of Ile-de-France, Roissy and Orly airports included.