It will finally be Mérignac. The Gironde prefecture indicated on Monday that the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin decided in favor of the Bioparc site near the airport, for the construction of a new administrative detention center (CRA).
With 140 places, it will increase the retention capacity in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region from 70 to 210 places. “It will thus offer new means to fight against irregular immigration and strengthen our capacities for removal”, indicates the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.
“Citizen mobilization” against the project in Pessac
This building was initially designed in a residential area of the neighboring town of Pessac, which provoked strong opposition and strong mobilization from the inhabitants of the area. The elected opposition Pessac Sébastien Saint-Pasteur, who had denounced this choice, estimated on Monday that “279 days after the discovery of a first project near exit 13 in Pessac, we must salute the incredible citizen mobilization which made it possible to reverse the course of things. »
For the deputy of the seventh constituency Frédéric Zgainski, this decision is also the result of the mobilization of the inhabitants of the Madran and Monbalon district “who succeeded in uniting and convincing elected officials and institutions of the need to find an alternative, established in Mérignac between the intercommunal cemetery and the ring road. »
This center is part of a global project to create 3,000 CRA places by 2027 in France. The capacity of the CRAs is currently 1,859 places, specifies the ministry