France: immigration police set up
01 January 1994
The French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua has announced that a special police unit to deal with immigration was set up on 15 January. The unit will be known as Dicilec (Direction centrale du contrle de l'immigration et de lutte contre l'emploi des clandestins; Directorate for Immigration Control and Struggle Against Employment of Illegal Aliens)). Its brief is to "centralise, organise and boost the fight in this domain", as well as ensuring the application of the Schengen Treaty. Dicilec will also absorb and directly control the French border police at national level - it is currently organised on a regional basis. The head of Dicilec will be one of the most senior police officers in the country, police prefect Robert Broussard. He has previously produced a hardline report on drug trafficking and was formerly in charge of the "anti-gang" unit which tackled organised crime.
There has been a long and heated debate between Interior Ministers and the police unions. On 17 January a technical committee comprised of both Ministers and police trade unions (FASP, FNAP and USC) announced that it was in favour of the project. The FASP was informed of the plans in early December when Pasqua addressed its national conference. He said that Dicilec would carry out deportations, the "fight" against the employment of "illegal" immigrants and control of the borders (implementing the Schengen Agreement). At present the Renseignments Gnraux (the Special Branch) is engaged in tracking down and dealing with illegally employed immigrants. It will now work in liaison with Dicilec as it does not have powers of arrest and detention.
Pasqua has restated his intention to use charters to deport illegals . He said: "We arrest clandestine immigrants, we put them on plane and then we send them back where they came from. After we have filled some planes everyone will understand. Planes, trains or boats, whatever..."
Pasqua's previous plan to charter trains to send Africans back was quietly dropped last autumn after a massive public outcry and the threat of industrial action by the train workers' unions. However, it has transpired that early in January a train had indeed departed for Marseille in the middle of one night in December, containing several carriages of deportees who were then put on boats headed for North Africa. The move took everyone by surprise and passed without incident.
Le Figaro 6.1.94; Infomatin 18.1.94; Reflex (Paris).