LILLE, France: Police moved in to clear 500 migrants from a camp near the French port city of Dunkirk, along the English Channel where many gather hoping to stow away on trucks or ferries heading to Britain, officials said Thursday.
Around 200 officers took part in the operation which was going smoothly at Grande-Synthe, just outside the city, regional government official Eric Etienne said.
Authorities estimate that 95 percent of the people at the site are Iraqi Kurds.
Etienne said the evacuation reflected the government’s determination not to allow new “shantytowns” along France’s northern coast of migrants trying to reach Britain.
A heavy police presence was deployed to prevent a repeat of camps like the huge “Jungle” site near Calais, where more than 10,000 people were living before it was razed in 2016.
An estimated 800 migrants are currently in Grande-Synthe, municipal officials say.
Those evacuated Tuesday will be offered the chance to apply for asylum in France or be brought to police centers for ID checks.
Last month French lawmakers passed new legislation to accelerate asylum procedures by cutting the maximum processing time to 90 days after entry to France from 120 currently.
It also makes it easier to expel people whose applications are turned down, a move denounced by critics as an attempt to limit new arrivals.
French police clear 500 migrants from Dunkirk camp
French police clear 500 migrants from Dunkirk camp
- Authorities estimate that 95 percent of the people at the site are Iraqi Kurds
- Last month French lawmakers passed new legislation to accelerate asylum procedures
Four more US deportees arrive in Eswatini: lawyer, official
- Two of the newly arrived deportees are from Somalia, one from Tanzania and one from Sudan
- The four arrived at the maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Center
MBABANE, Eswatini: Four more men deported from the United States under Washington’s scheme to expel undocumented migrants have arrived in the southern African kingdom of Eswatini, a lawyer and a prison official said Thursday.
The tiny country took in 15 men last year as part of US deals with several African nations for them to accept migrants under a third-country deportation program that has been widely criticized by rights groups.
Two of the newly arrived deportees are from Somalia, one from Tanzania and one from Sudan, US-based migration lawyer Alma David, who represents some of the other detainees, told AFP.
The four arrived at the maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Center, outside the capital, late Wednesday, an officer said on condition of anonymity.
“They are in perfect health,” the officer told AFP. “They are currently being oriented by the social welfare and health departments.”
The facility was preparing to receive around 140 more deportees, the official said.
According to a document revealed by Human Rights Watch in September and seen by AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funds to build its border and migration management capacity.
Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, confirmed in November that it had received around $5.1 million from the United States to accept the deportees.
Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have also accepted US deportees. Cameroon reportedly received 17 African nationals deported from the United States this year.
Eswatini authorities say they are only holding the deportees while arrangements are finalized for their repatriation.
One of the men sent to Eswatini, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a murder sentence in the United States, was sent back to the Caribbean island nation in September.
Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions, arguing that the deportees are being held “indefinitely” without charges.
