French Senator Henri Leroy has denounced the “worrying increase” in underage migrant delinquency, a rise which he said appears to be “exponential”.
A former police officer, Leroy stated that most major French cities are affected by a rise in underage migrant crime. A fact-finding mission at the French Senate was recently launched into issue.
“Just look at the panorama of delinquency. There is a worrying increase which seems exponential. The number of minor migrants was 30,000 in 2015 and 60,000 in 2018, and the associated problems are increasing at the same rate,” Leroy said during an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro.
Leroy highlighted Paris and Bordeaux in particular, claiming: “In Bordeaux, 40 per cent of delinquency is attributable to them, and the proportion was 24 per cent two years ago. The problem grows and threatens to infiltrate all sections of delinquency, trafficking, banditry… We need to stop this bleeding.”
Senator Leroy acknowledged the letters signed by former and allegedly active members of the French military that warned of a potential civil war due to the rising levels of insecurity across the country and growing problems of urban violence.
“You know, I do not speak for the other senators… but when generals issue an alert to you, it is not due to chance. I’ll take it into account,” he said.
“What they did was mostly a cry for help, and a cry for help was not sanctioned. We are on the brink of a civil breakdown, and there would be nothing worse than using the military to restore our security. So we can’t go on like this,” he added.
The cost of minor migrants, known as MNAs in France, is also an issue Leroy said he wants to tackle. Currently, each minor migrant costs the French taxpayer around €50,000 (£43,040/$60,972) per year, for a total of €2 billion (£1.72bn/$2.44) per year, according to a 2019 report.
Migrants falsely claiming to be underage has also been a major problem in France. In March, Paris police reported that after working with North African countries to set up a fingerprint database, they found 216 of the 229 “minors” they could positively identify were actually adults.
“According to our information, 15 departments still refuse to cooperate in the fight against fake minors and do not set up bone tests to determine the age groups of migrants. It’s unacceptable. The result — because there are obviously many frauds — is the misuse of public money,” Leroy said.