African Migrants Face Harsh Realities After Dangerous Journey to France

African migrants have long crossed the Franco-Spanish border on the Basque side, whether on foot, by train or hidden in trucks. But since 2020, according to the Border Police (PAF), they are increasingly crossing through the Pyrénées-Orientales.

Nasser (pseudonym), an Algerian who arrived in France four months ago "to offer a better future" to his daughter, confides to AFP. Today, this former activist of the Hirak movement lives in a makeshift squat in Perpignan, after having spent nights under the stars. "I spent the equivalent of 3,000 euros to make the crossing in a zodiac to Almeria in Spain. We almost didn’t make it several times..." he says, disillusioned. "I didn’t come to France to beg. They call us thieves, when the only thing I dreamed of was being able to work honestly. But there’s nothing for us here, nothing. Where I come from, I was unemployed and I was told there would be work here. Where? What work? I can’t find anything," laments Nasser.

"They realize that they are condemned to a life of clandestinity. This realization of failure is a very difficult moment, towards themselves, their family, but also the authorities since an illegal migrant who returns to Algeria can be sentenced to a prison term," observes Jacques Ollion of the Cimade, the association for the defense of the rights of refugees and migrants, who specifies that these migrants have no choice but to use clandestine routes again to return to Algeria, even though the country has announced the partial reopening of its borders in June, closed for more than a year due to the health crisis.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 40,106 migrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa joined Spain by sea in 2020, compared to 26,168 in 2019, an "important increase in migratory flow" of more than 53%, according to Christian Grau, the mayor of the border town of Cerbère. "Several dozen illegal foreigners enter Perpignan every day" from Spain, the mayor Louis Aliot had already warned in November in a letter to President Emmanuel Macron.