France Held 16,000 Foreigners in Detention Centres in 2026
6 Articles
6 Articles
The administrative detention of foreigners in an irregular situation continues to increase in France, without leading to further expulsions. This is the main observation made by several associations involved in the administrative detention centres (CRA), namely Forum réfugiés, France terre d'asile, Groupe SOS Solidarités, La Cimade et Solidarité Mayotte, in their annual report published this Tuesday. In 2025, 16,467 people were locked up in the …
In France, the number of foreign persons held in administrative detention is still increasing in 2025. But, for the first time in several years, the number of expulsions is decreasing. In total, 60% of those detained are released by the courts before being able to be removed from the territory. Five associations that accompany men and women in an irregular situation point to the numerous irregularities they find in these detention centres.
Five associations denounce, in their annual report published this Tuesday, the willingness of the government and some parliamentarians to increase the number of places in CRA and the legal length of detention.
In 2025, the average length of time spent in a detention centre exceeded 33 days, but the rate of expulsion fell to 36%. The figures that question the French migration policy. Detention centres: longer locked up, but less and less expelled In 2025, the average length of administrative detention of foreigners in an irregular situation exceeded
In their annual report published on 19 May 2026, associations working in administrative detention centres denounce a "massive and ineffective" recourse to the detention of irregular migrants. The Cross visited the centre of Mesnil-Amelot, one of the largest in France.
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