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‘Solidarity Crime’ at the Border: A Lesson from France

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Migration, Borders and Citizenship

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

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Abstract

As geographic frontiers get stronger, the political instrumentalisation of law goes as far as to generate the global criminalisation of the migration phenomenon. With a surprising quickness and confounding ease, this criminalisation makes its way through immigration laws, creating a «crime of solidarity». This chapter reviews the double concomitant drive, direct and indirect, that the criminalisation of immigration has had in France on a long-time basis. Cases studies and lessons from France’s immigration policy, influenced by the neo-institutional theory of rational choice, are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cf. article L622-1 of CESEDA, stating that facilitating illegal entry is punishable by a sentence of 5-years imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 Euros.

  2. 2.

    Cf. the letter by Éric Besson to associations signing for the text “Si la solidarité devient un délit, nous demandons à être poursuivis pour ce délit!”, 7 April 2009.

  3. 3.

    Loi n° 96-647, du 22 juillet 1996.

  4. 4.

    Loi n° 98-349, du 11 mai 1998.

  5. 5.

    Loi n° 2003-1119.

  6. 6.

    Loi n° 2012-1560.

  7. 7.

    Bill for a ‘managed immigration and effective asylum rights,’ n° 714, 21 February 2018.

  8. 8.

    https://lepole.asso.fr/media/library/file/file/2018/07/20180706_MC_Gerard_Collomb_et_Francoise_Nyssen_.pdf. In the original text: Le ministre se félicite de ce que le Conseil constitutionnel a estimé qu’il serait disproportionné […] d’étendre les exemptions existantes à l’aide à l’entrée irrégulière sur le territoire français, confortant ainsi pleinement la politique du Gouvernement.

  9. 9.

    Fernand Bosson, town councillor in Haute-Savoie, was convicted in 2016 of having hosted a Kosovar family. He received, however, a suspended sentence, by the Court in Bonneville.

  10. 10.

    Pierre-Alain Mannoni, a member of the faculty at the University of Nice, was found guilty in 2017 by the Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence for having transported three Eritreans who had crossed the border between Italy and France illegally.

  11. 11.

    Cédric Herrou, a farmer from Roya Valley, was convicted in 2018 by the Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence for having provided assistance to hosted many undocumented migrants.

  12. 12.

    Martine Landry, a member of Amnesty International, was found guilty in 2018 for having provided assistance to two undocumented migrant minors. She had in fact simply accompanied them to the police station at the border, but this was sufficient grounds for the application of article L622-1 of CESEDA.

  13. 13.

    Constitutional Council, Decision n° 2018-717/718 QPC of 6 July 2018.

  14. 14.

    Cf. the bill for ‘managed immigration, effective asylum rights and successful integration’, n° 168, 1 août 2018, à paraître au JO.

  15. 15.

    The government did not repeal it, but in fact altered it in such a way as to meet constitutional requirements. Specifically, the government created new immunities via L622-4, to render L622-1 consistent and constitutional.

  16. 16.

    This refers to the power of individual rights against state powers (Carré 1920).

  17. 17.

    This legislative provision targeted human trafficking first and foremost until 1996. Since then, the ‘affaire Deltombe’ (referring to the case of a member of a pro-migrant association who was convincted under article L622-1 of CESEDA for having hosted a Zairese friend) pro-migrant and humanitarian associations have denounced the practice of interpreting legislation in such a way as to allow the criminalisation of solidarity.

  18. 18.

    Letter of Besson to the associations, 7 April 2009. l’Intérieur, Ministère. 2019. “La lettre du ministre aux présidents des associations”. http://www.immigration.interieur.gouv.fr/Archives/Les-archives-du-Cabinet-de-M.-Eric-Besson-2009-2010/Les-actualites-du-Cabinet-de-M.-Eric-Besson-2009-2010/Avril-2009/La-lettre-du-ministre-aux-presidents-des-associations.

  19. 19.

    Thus, a member of RESF appeared before the Perpignan Criminal Court for having hosted for two years an Armenian family that, according to court records, took part in housekeeping tasks, such as cooking and cleaning (TGI Perpignan, 15 July 2015). In the Roya Valley, two people were prosecuted even though the judge admitted that they were providing purely humanitarian aid devoid of any profit motive. Nevertheless they were found to have engaged in “a militant action to remove foreigners from the controls implemented by the authorities,” and accordingly sentenced to four month suspended imprisonment (CA Aix-en-Provence, 8 August 2017, n° 2017/568).

  20. 20.

    TGI Saint-Etienne, 10 September 2014 and Cour d’Appel Lyon, 27 January 2015, n° 14/02239; Cour d’appel de Caen, 23 novembre 2016, n° 16/592…

  21. 21.

    Cf. Article 132-71 of Criminal Code saying that ‘An organised criminal group is any group formed freely for the purpose of preparation of one or more offenses’ (in the original text: Constitue une bande organisée au sens de la loi tout groupement formé ou toute entente établie en vue de la préparation, caractérisée par un ou plusieurs faits matériels, d’une ou de plusieurs infractions).

  22. 22.

    Cf. Article L625 du CESEDA 1° 2° et 3, saying that the criminal act of providing assistance to illegal migrants to enter the country, establish residence, or facilitate movement is punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment and 750,000 Euros “when operated in an organised criminal group; when operated in circumstances that directly expose foreigners to immediate risk of death or injury that could lead to mutilation or permanent disability; when there is the effect of subjecting foreigners to conditions of life, transport, work or accommodation that are incompatible with the dignity of the human person” (in the original text: «Le délit d’aide à l’entrée, au séjour et à la circulation est puni de 10 ans d’emprisonnement et de 750 000 euros: “lorsqu’elles sont commises en bande organisée; lorsqu’elles sont commises dans des circonstances qui exposent directement les étrangers à un risque immédiat de mort ou de blessures de nature à entraîner une mutilation ou une infirmité permanente; lorsqu’elles ont pour effet de soumettre les étrangers à des conditions de vie, de transport, de travail ou d’hébergement incompatibles avec la dignité de la personne humaine).”

  23. 23.

    For the Constitutional Council, the control of entry into France is a prerogative of sovereignty, an inherent and substantial element to the concept of the sovereign state, an instrument of control of its territory and preservation of public order. Cf. decision n° 97-394 DC of 31 December 1997.

  24. 24.

    Since 1993, the Constitutional Council relied on the general interest objectives of the legislator to consider that the conditions of entry and residence of foreigners may be restricted by administrative police measures. This same principle grants extensive powers to public authorities on the basis of specific rules. Cf. Decision n° 93-325 of 13 August 1993, Law referring to migration and conditions of entry, hosting and residence of foreigners.

  25. 25.

    https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/Communiques/Deplacement-de-Gerard-Collomb-en-Afrique.

  26. 26.

    http://lmsi.net/S-attaquer-aux-filieres.

  27. 27.

    https://www.la-croix.com/France/Immigration/Gerard-Collomb-veut-declarer-guerre-passeurs-2018-02-22-1200915846.

  28. 28.

    http://www.presse.justice.gouv.fr/archives-discours-10093/seminaire-lutte-contre-les-filieres-dimmigration-irreguliere-30815.html.

  29. 29.

    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/G-8-2017-000001_FR.html.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Panthéon Sorbonne University and Nantes University, Paris, France

    Olivia Müller

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  1. Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Ambrosini

  2. CEVIPOF, Sciences Po, Paris, France

    Manlio Cinalli

  3. Department of Sociology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    David Jacobson

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Müller, O. (2020). ‘Solidarity Crime’ at the Border: A Lesson from France. In: Ambrosini, M., Cinalli, M., Jacobson, D. (eds) Migration, Borders and Citizenship. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22157-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22157-7_5

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