Friday, November 18, 2022

France refuses to take in scores of asylum-seekers rescued in the Mediterranean

 
Ocean Viking NGO

Most of the adult migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking NGO in the Mediterranean have been denied entry into France, which allowed the vessel to disembark after Italy blocked access to its ports, the interior ministry said Friday.

The standoff has rekindled the EU immigration debate and heightened tensions between France and Italy's new far-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

After pleading for days to be allowed to dock in Italy, the Ocean Viking and its 234 rescued migrants disembarked at the French port of Toulon in what the French government called an "exceptional" decision.

Around 40 minors have been placed in social care, while 189 adults were brought to a retention centre to evaluate the validity of their asylum requests, a senior interior ministry official said at a hearing by the State Council, the country's top administrative court.

Of those, 123 people did not provide sufficient proof to back up their claims and were denied entry, the official said, without specifying if or when they might be deported.

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