23 May 2018•Update: 23 May 2018
By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
French Interior Minister on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of some 2,300 migrants living in makeshift camps in Paris amid a row with the city's mayor over the strategy to resolve the long-lasting crisis.
In a statement, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he ordered police to work out an evacuation operation as soon as possible not only to find shelter for migrants but also to run "administrative controls."
The move comes amid repeated calls to the government by non-governmental organizations and the City Hall for "urgent action" to find a lasting solution for the mushrooming squalid and packed camps.
Tent camps have sprung up in recent weeks along canals in eastern and northeastern Paris, raising alarm for safety and public hygiene.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has appealed to the government earlier this month to urgently provide shelter for migrants sleeping rough in deteriorating conditions and fix the “inhuman” situation.
In turn, the government has insisted that unless the mayor initiates legal proceedings to evict illegal immigrants, many of whom would be requesting asylum in the EU country where they were first registered under the Dublin convention, the problem is hers.
The Interior Ministry has already carried out 35 evacuation operation since 2015, clearing out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps.
Aid groups have slammed a new controversial immigration law pushed by the government, seeking to criminalize illegal border crossing, and speed up the process for asylum requests and for expelling migrants unable to claim asylum.
The groups argue the new law does not set out a long-term system to receive and provide shelter for those arriving in France.
Paris has long faced problems of migrants and asylum seekers sleeping in its streets for months while awaiting administrative processes.
