“We were quiet here, are we really the best place to welcome them…”, breathes Monique, an octogenarian suspicious of the arrival of migrants at the Return Preparation Center (CPAR) who s settled, officially in September, in a former Ehpad in St. Lys near Toulouse.
On this summer Wednesday, this little granny who carries, bent over, her heavy shopping bag filled with groceries does not hesitate: “At my age, we want calm! “. In this typical small town of the Upper Garonnewhich has nearly 10,000 souls, the questions fuse as much as the concerns.
More than a real fear about the arrival of migrants, the inhabitants seem to be afraid of the unknown. Because very little information was transmitted to these inhabitants so that they could understand this file. “We are told that, like that, when the project is already fully validated and we don’t have our say? “, gets angry Philippe *. At 50, his graying hair stands on end when we talk about this center, without wanting to be called “racist or extremist”: “We are not talking about a political camp there, but about a subject of society. We cannot be forced to welcome migrants who are expelled from the territory! “, stirs the Saint-Lysien.
A capacity of 120 people maximum for an average stay of 38 days
The CPAR will have a maximum capacity of 120 places for “people of foreign nationalities who have expressed the wish to return to their country of origin”, specifies the prefecture of Haute-Garonne. This place is therefore dedicated to foreigners who have exhausted their rights to stay in France and who have chosen to join a voluntary return program. This is a transit site with families arriving and leaving after an average of 38 days.
“I can understand that locals are against the project out of ‘fear’ but some are going too far, these people just want to be able to go home and be able to do their thing. Who are we to stop them? “, balances on his side the young Thomas who has returned to his parents for the holidays. The Bordeaux student sees it as a good opportunity “for some to rub shoulders with people they are afraid of”. “It will calm the inhabitants on the a priori” he laughs.
After two years of waiting and opposition, the subject remains hot in the heart of summer. “Honestly, we will see over time. I’m not against this center, but I hope it won’t lead to insecurity and that, we can’t know in advance, ”says a shopkeeper while waiting for his customers near the very central Place Nationale. He prefers to remain anonymous because the “subject is sensitive here…”.
“A contemptuous state”
There municipality, who did not respond to our requests, expressed his side on May 26, in an open letter addressed to the President of the Republic. Serge Deuilhé, the PS mayor of Saint-Lys expressed his feeling of abandonment in the face of this file: “As mayor, I find myself alone in the face of a measure imposed by the State without consultation. I was neither supported, nor accompanied, nor respected in the management of this file”, he writes, pointing to a “State contemptuous of Saint-Lysiennes and Saint-Lysiens […] pending official information”.
If Serge Deuilhé insists on the fact that he is “not opposed to the reception of this structure”, the first city councilor criticizes an opacity and decisions taken without the knowledge of the host municipality. For its part, the prefecture ensures that “the outline of this project has given rise to numerous exchange meetings since June 2021 between the State services, the French Office for Immigration and Integration, the operator Adoma and the town hall of Saint-Lys. »
No school children
To reassure, the administration also specifies that “these publics will have no impact on the public services of the host municipality since the duration of stays linked to obtaining consular passes and transport tickets spread over a period of 15 days to 1 month on average. During this short period, the children are not in school, the people housed benefit from service tickets to be used in nearby shops for their meals as well as transport tickets. Adoma also provides medical and social monitoring. »
The project is on its way, no turning back possible now. And Jean-Marie* has the feeling “of being the turkey of the farce”. Without having fiercely opposed the centre, he does not understand that “given the number of people against…no one wanted to hear”.