94 Per Cent of Foreign ‘Minors’ Identified by Paris Police Are Adults

After setting up a fingerprint database in cooperation with North African countries, the Paris police prefecture positively identified 229 “minor” migrants, of which 216 were revealed to be adults.

The Directorate of Security of the Paris Metropolitan Area (DSPAP) implemented the system 15 months ago in cooperation with authorities in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia and have requested identification for 939 migrants over that period.

Of the 229 ‘underage’ migrants positively identified, 94 per cent were actually adults. Those whose identities were confirmed were 156 Algerians, 71 Moroccans, and two Tunisians. The remaining migrants were classified as of “unknown origin”, according to a report from the newspaper Le Figaro.

Crime perpetrated by alleged unaccompanied minor migrants (MNAs) has become an increasing trend in Paris and other cities across France. According to statistics from the DSPAP, unaccompanied minors from North Africa were implicated in various crimes 7,988 times in 2020, increasing 20 per cent from 2019.

An estimated 1,000 minor migrants reside in Paris and accounted for 28 per cent of all the minor offenders in the city in 2020, up from 17 per cent in 2018.

The Paris prosecutor’s office notes that many also lie about their identities and how old they really are in order to be treated as juvenile offenders because it is easier for them to escape custody.

The DSPAP data comes just days after French politicians Jean-François Eliaou and Antoine Savignat presented a report that revealed up to 75 per cent of underage migrant crime in Paris involves suspects from just three north African countries.

“Mostly young men from Maghreb countries distinguish themselves from other MNAs by chaotic migration routes that are particularly traumatic, and then by a life of wandering once they arrive in France. Often the victims of trafficking networks, they are delinquents and drug addicts,” the French Directorate of Judicial Protection of Youth (DPJJ) stated.

Valérie Martineau, director of local security in the Paris metropolitan area, told Le Figaro that many of the migrants commit basic thefts, such as jewellery or mobile phones, to support their drug addictions as well as a “taste for designer clothing”.

Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian migrants were arrested 1,633 times in cases of burglary in Paris in 2020 alone, with many selling their goods just 15 minutes later on the streets of the Barbès area of northern Paris.

Minor migrants also represent nearly a third of defendants in violent robberies, and many are said to carry knives and even firearms. “When victims resist, they pull out a knife quite easily,” Ms Martineau said.

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