Key points
- The number of people being deported is growing; it is the result of a political will to do so that is acknowledged by the French state.
- If you are arrested with the risk of being deported, go and see an association specialised in defending the rights of foreign nationals.
In theory, for the State to be able to deport a person, it is necessary that :
- the police and the prefecture respect certain procedural rules concerning the arrest and the conditions of detention in the administrative detention centre (CRA),
- the other State must agree to receive the person being deported.
Knowing this legal framework can enable you to use it to prevent deportation. If it is proved to the court that the procedure has not been followed, and the judge accepts this, then you will be released; if at the end of the legal period of detention (90 days), there is neither a passport nor a laissez-passer from a consulate, you will be released.
STOP DEPORTATION
How to stop a deportation last minute?
In case the police arrest you for deportation it can be still possible to stop a deportation until the last moment. Most important is that you inform others (and especially your lawyer if you have one) and that you try to resist.
Most deportations are carried out on regular flights where tourists and businesspeople travel as well. If French police wants to deport you on such a regular flight, they will most likely just put you on the plane but won’t accompany you on the flight, if they don’t expect any trouble. As it is easier to stop a deportation on the plane when police officers do not accompany you, it makes sense not to waste your energy on the way to the airplane but to start to resist only once police has left the plane.
Alert about charter deportations
In an airplane chartered only for deportation usually there will be police officers accompanying each person and so the chances to resist are limited.
How to prevent your deportation while still at the airport?
You can find ideas on how to resist in this video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Umb7MyDhw
Once you are already on your way to the airport, it will be difficult to think about what you could do to prevent the deportation, because you will be most likely stressed. Therefore it is good to familiarise yourself beforehand with the existing possibilities. The following information should help you with this.
1. Informing other people
If you can, inform your friends that you are arrested by police and you want to resist the deportation. Especially inform your lawyer - but also other people who supported you in your struggle for your right to stay. The more people know that you are flying against your will, the greater the chance of preventing your deportation.
2. On the way to the aircraft
The French State Police often behave recklessly, and often also brutally, to enforce an ordered deportation. The law allows police officers to transport people to the airport in handcuffs and to use force to suppress any resistance. Sometimes the state police bully and beat to scare and discourage deportees before they reach the aircraft. If you want to resist the deportation, you should not waste your strength too early.
3. If you are injured or ill
If you get injured or become ill, then you should let everyone you meet on your way to the deportation know (immigration officials, the airport social services, the flight attendants in the plane, the passengers – really everybody). It is possible that because of this you are “not airworthy.” This does not always help, but deportations have regularly been aborted on medical grounds. In case you have medical documents that can prove that you are probably “unable to travel” carry them always with you.
4. Once you are on the plane
Due to international agreements, inside the aircraft police officers have no special authority. It is the pilot who will take all decisions. So save your energy to prevent your deportation once you are on the plane. Try, if necessary by calling loudly, to speak to the pilot (flight captain) or a responsible member of the aircraft crew. Explain that you are not taking this flight willingly. Usually a loud “NO” is enough. If that does not help you can be loud, refuse to sit down and refuse to fasten the seatbelt.
If the immigration officials (state police) do not stay on the aircraft, it is quite simple to stand up as soon as they have left the plane, and to go straight to the pilot and insist on having a conversation with him/her. Explain that you do not want to fly, and that he/she should not conduct this deportation. Explain clearly that you are not flying on your own free will and that you will fight to defend yourself if necessary.
If the immigration officials stay on the plane and intend to fly with you as „safety monitoring“, you should still try to reach the pilot. If the immigration officials prevent you from doing this by cuffing you or holding you, you can protest with loud screams, once the first passengers are on board the plane. Still try to reach the pilot and to tell him that you will resist.
5. What happens when a deportation is successfully prevented, or must be aborted?
ATTENTION: resistance can result in being detained until the authorities make another attempt to deport you.
The French officials will usually try to continue to conduct the deportation. If the deportation was proceeded by detention, you will firstly be brought back to detention. If there is no custody order, you will be sent back again to the place where you live in France. In either case there is little time to continue to fight your deportation using legal or political means. After a prevented deportation there is always the danger of an arrest warrant, so simply to wait would be unsafe. Contact a lawyer or legal advice centre immediately.
6. ”Emergency exit”
Often the immigration authorities are forced to conduct deportations with airlines that do not offer direct flights to the country of origin. This means that the deportee must change to a connecting flight at an airport in another country. This creates the possibility of getting off the plane and refusing the onwards flight. In several cases the deportees have refused to board the connecting flight and have been returned to France.
Additional information
Defending yourself is not just a legal matter. To better defend yourself against the State, we think it’s best to take part in a collective of undocumented people or to organise yourself and those around you to be ready to react after an arrest (find a lawyer experienced in immigration law, hide your passport, gather documents, apply pressure, etc.).
To send a person back to a foreign country, the French government must have either their valid passport or a laissez-passer issued by the consulate of the country recognised as their origin. If the police, judge or prefecture have the valid passport, all they have to do is find a seat on a plane. If the passport has expired, the police have the real identity and they have to present the person to the consulate from which he or she originates.