Hervé has decided to resign from the association because he no longer wishes to serve undocumented migrants and migrants. It evokes on our antenna “unspeakable” and “inadmissible” acts on the part of certain beneficiaries towards the volunteers.
He mentions “security problems”. Hervé is one of the volunteers of the Restos du Cœur in Fréjus who left the association because they refuse to serve undocumented people. Questioned by BFMTV, he explains this choice by tensions and “inadmissible” and “unspeakable” acts on the part of certain beneficiaries.
“About two years ago, everyone was welcomed at the Restos du Cœur, including migrants and undocumented migrants,” says the volunteer on our antenna. It turns out that during this period, there was behavior inadmissible, there were insults, threats, cans thrown in the faces of the volunteers … “
“I am not going to close the center to punish all the other people”
Hervé explains that he shared the information with his colleagues with the departmental association, which then offered two choices to the volunteers of the center: prohibiting access to the center for people who behave badly, or closing it. this.
“We did not choose the first (option, editor’s note) because someone who is in a bad mood, who behaves badly, if we do not distribute to him, I think it will be worse”, continues Hervé, who explains to have also refused the second choice: “I will not close the center to punish all the other people who behave well.”
“A third solution was chosen: ask all social workers working with migrants to come and register them at the same time and therefore, as soon as there was a problem with a migrant, the information was passed on to the social worker who was taking care of the problem, ”he adds.
In the cases of undocumented migrants who do not have social workers, it was then impossible for volunteers to register them: “in the Restos du Cœur directives, we are asked at the national level to ask people for a certain number of papers” .
“The first line of this list is to ask for an identity card or a residence card. By definition, an undocumented person cannot provide you with these documents, and we are talking about unconditional reception. one of the first conditions to be registered with the Restos du Cœur, it is the condition of income “, affirms Hervé.
“If you refuse to take illegal immigrants, you cannot stay”
The volunteer assures us, however, that undocumented migrants receive a repair package when they come: “they never leave empty-handed, but we do not register them because we do not have the requested documents”.
“The basic problem is not whether or not to welcome undocumented migrants. It is that there have been security problems”, maintains Hervé, who says he was faced with a dilemma on the part of management of the association. “We were told clearly: if you refuse to take people in hiding, you cannot stay.”
Hervé, like almost all of the volunteers, therefore chose to resign from the center. Today, the departmental association takes over the management of the center. It will reopen in the coming days with a new team.