Marion, manager of the Mirabelle café (Paris, 11th arrondissement), is distraught. She tells us the story of her former cook, Boubou, 31, deported to Mali. “The only way for things to change is to try to talk about it, so that perhaps the politicians can move and someone in the government can help us so that he can come back. The situation is so complicated in Mali for him to reobtain a visa. We didn’t have a solution so we decided with the team to talk about it on social networks. »
Boubou started working for Café Mirabelle in 2019, first as an extra dishwasher. Then, little by little, he was trained as a cook. In April 2022, Marion offered him a permanent contract. “We trained him in cooking, but above all it was he who invested in learning the profession, he gave himself to progress, he is someone who has abilities, he learns very quickly” , explains the café manager, admiringly. He still left the Mirabelle café in the spring to join another establishment, with a higher salary but kept good contact with the Mirabelle café and Marion, the manager.
Boubou was born in France, at the age of 6 he returned with his parents to his country of origin, Mali. He then returned to France in 2017, with a problem: an error made by his father in his birth declaration meant that his papers could not be recognized. “At first he didn’t tell me that they were false papers. With her lawyer we are making sure to regularize it, with an official request in May 2023,” explains Marion.
“He found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time”
One evening in July, when he finds himself in a bar, the evening goes wrong. “He found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was attacked by a woman with a knife, he took the knife from her hands,” says a disheartened Marion: “The police came, they checked everyone and took Boubou away. He was exonerated in this fight because he had done nothing, but as he had no papers they kept him in a detention center. »
He remains there all summer, awaiting his judgment, scheduled for September 24. Marion and Boubou are then confident about his chances of being released: “I went to see him, he told me that an association was there and that he had a 95% chance of getting out because relations were tense. with Mali. » Unfortunately, he will never have the opportunity to be released.
“It’s a real blow”
“He was deported on Friday, two days before. He spent almost two months in detention and two days before his judgment he was expelled,” confides the coffee maker, devastated by this decision. “The day before his expulsion, I sent him a message to tell him to hold on that he was going to get out soon, it’s a real blow, I have a feeling of injustice, of anger. He’s been here for seven years. He speaks French, he has integrated really well. He has his job, his friends, he has done nothing wrong. He doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. »
When Boubou arrived in Mali, he stayed in Bamako to go to the embassy to collect a visa. The complex situation in Mali and the length of the procedure forced him to change his plans: “He went to his village to see his family whom he had not seen for seven years. » The owner of the Mirabelle café has remained in contact with him to support him morally, she remains confident about his chances of returning and talks about the support he has received on social networks: “He is very happy to see all the support he has received. he has, it warms his heart. We all assume that he will come back and that we will find a solution. »