COVID-19 Traps Undocumented Migrants in Limbo at Toulouse Detention Center

The elected official visited the center for the fourth time. Accompanied this time by journalists, she says she wants to "report the situations of the people detained in the center". Ms. Taurine denounces an "untenable situation" at the CRA where undocumented foreigners are being held without possible expulsion, either because of the border closures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, or because they are not recognized in the country where they are to be expelled, reports France info.

During this visit, she exchanged with the officials of the Cimade offices and the people detained in the center. According to the explanations of Elsa Putelat, 513 people have been locked up at the CRA since March in this context of health crisis related to the coronavirus. Among them, 65 have been the subject of an expulsion or deportation outside of France (including 36 returned to European Union countries). This situation is explained, among other things, by the closure of the borders of several countries since the beginning of the pandemic.

"We have a lot of nationalities here but the three main ones come from the Maghreb countries and, in this case, from Algeria and Morocco," explains Leo Claus, coordinator of the Cimade. "No Algerian, no Moroccan has left since March and yet the center is full of them. People are stuck here for two months, even though everyone knows, the administration and the judges, that we won’t be able to return them to the border," he adds.

While the Cornebarrieu CRA has not experienced a cluster like others, 8 cases of Covid-19 have nevertheless been recorded there since the first lockdown. For Bénédicte Taurine, the situation, "already complex" has become "much more problematic and entrenched". "The health crisis is causing problems for everyone, staff and detainees. We can feel the fear," she says. In addition, each of the detained persons faces particular problems.

"During the first lockdown, we had reduced the number of detainees, there was a good reason. [...] Why now are we locking up people knowing that we won’t be able to release them, with the added health risk? I don’t understand," the deputy indignantly.