France: Minister wants to sort immigrants
France's Interior Minister Gérard Collomb announced in an interview with the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche that the French authorities want to differentiate more clearly in the future between asylum seekers and economic migrants, and to ensure that the latter are sent home more effectively. France's journalists are up in arms.
The myth of good and bad refugees
How can there be so much room in Europe for such undignified comments? asks blogger Agnès Druel in Mediapart:
“How can any society that regards itself as enlightened support a project that sorts people into different categories and refuses them entry on this basis? How many times do we have to repeat that France and Europe as a whole have a duty to offer protection to people in need? Instead of honouring this duty our politicians get caught up in nationalistic and reductionist discussions, thus lending credence to the myth that there are good and bad refugees. What has happened to us here in Europe that we allow such discussions to take seed so easily? ... What has become of us that we can be so indifferent to the suffering of others and cling desperately to the privileges of spoiled westerners?”
Pointless talk
The proposal is totally unrealistic, thunders Contrepoints:
“All this talk solves nothing and provides no answer to the concerns of local populations regarding the massive influx of migrants of all types. … The proposal to differentiate between types of migrants is utterly useless because it would only make the whole process which already takes far too long even slower. … This slowness causes huge problems because the refugees start making a new life for themselves while waiting for the verdict on whether they can stay. Moreover, expulsions and forced returns of refugees are as rare as they are expensive and in no way guarantee that the influx will be stemmed. ”