The Ministers of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and of Justice, Eric Dupont-Moretti, praised Sunday
"the police-justice synergy"
and their
"decisive action"
in the management of unaccompanied minors, during a trip to Bordeaux, where a special "MNA" cell has existed since 2019.
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"We have long thought that the issue of unaccompanied minors and the delinquency they sometimes generate was a kind of fatality, but the police and justice hand in hand demonstrate the opposite
," Eric Dupond-Moretti told journalists. .
“Thanks to two essential texts, the Juvenile Justice Code
(September 2021)
and the so-called Repsi law
(Criminal responsibility and internal security, January 2022)
, which police and magistrates have seized together, the results are more than impressive: 700 unaccompanied minors arrested, many of whom are now identified and tried quickly, and a significant decline in delinquency with a drop in referrals (of these people) of 58%
, “he added.
“Where before, 200 unaccompanied minors refused to take
(digital) fingerprints
, which prevented them from being identified and therefore condemned, we have gone to 50 because we have made this taking compulsory and today justice strongly condemns those who refuse it”
, explained Gérald Darmanin.
At the police station, a manager explained to the two ministers that the
"MNA cell"
was made up of police officers with
"varied profiles"
, with
"pure judicial" investigators and
"very physiognomist"
BAC officials
, a mixture which had proven itself in a previous
"yellow vests cell"
.
This unit is primarily responsible for identifying unaccompanied minors and dismantling the organized crime networks that exploit them.
At the office of the prosecution, magistrates then reported
"progress"
made, in particular thanks to
"forced identification"
.
A person in charge of the Court for children evoked the creation of a
center of placement of the MNA with the penal
, the first of the kind in France.
“We are going to extend this good Bordeaux practice to other cities”
, assured Gérald Darmanin, who came with the Director General of the National Police Frédéric Veaux.
The two ministers, renewed in the government of Elisabeth Borne, said they were
"happy to continue together"
.
"This is our first trip together and probably not the last
," said Gérald Dupont-Moretti.
According to data from the Ministry of Justice, unaccompanied minors numbered around 16,000 in 2019.
On Friday, some sixty associations, including the League for Human Rights, Doctors of the World and the Syndicate of the Judiciary, had called for
"emergency protection"
, denouncing "
the lack of institutions"
which would lead to their
" put on the street”
.
They also castigated the speeches of
"fantasies
" on UAMs,
"in favor of political displays of 'fight against immigration'"
.
