France's Migrant Problem

Compared with the Paris Metro New York’s subway system feels like it belongs in a third-world hellhole. It is unpleasant, disagreeable, dangerous and often breaks down.

In contrast, the Paris metro is quiet, agreeable, reliable… a wonderful representation of a first world country. French citizens are proud of their mass transit system, as well they should be.

Of course, Paris is not what it used to be. Today, it has a refugee problem. Among the most stark pieces of evidence of that problem is this: subway conductors now refuse to stop at Metro stations in some dangerous parts of town. That, my friends, is third-worldism at its best. It reminds me of the times when I was being driven through Salvador, Bahia… where the drivers routinely refused to stop at red lights, because it was too dangerous.

The Daily Mail reports on the situation in Paris:

Subway drivers are refusing to stop at some stations in Paris because of a surge in violent crime at some stops, it has emerged.

Frightened drivers say they are not calling at certain stations in the French capital's north east in order to 'protect passengers' and themselves.

Some stations are increasingly being used by crack dealers, they say, with Marx Dormoy on line 12 and Marcadet-Poissonniers on lines 12 and 4 said to be among the worst hit.

According to The Local, the Unsa union representing drivers said the 'number of attacks on travelers and RATP staff is becoming increasingly dramatic'.

The union's Jean-Marc Judith said: 'Between the brawls that occur on the platforms, which sometimes end up happening on the train or across the tracks, you could hit someone, or crush them.'

I will not tell you anything about the ethnic makeup of these neighborhoods… because I do not need to.

But, what is French president Macron doing about it. At the least, he is addressing the problem. He has even gone to African countries to tell them that his country does not have open borders. Macron is young and brilliant. He is a reformed Socialist, become centrist. He controls the French parliament and can get his agenda passed.

Of course, some members of the dying Socialist party are complaining about his policies. Before casting judgment, we can examine them, as does the Washington Post this morning. The story’s concept is that, lo and behold, a president who had promised to be open to migrants has begun to crack down on them. Macron says he is open to political asylum seekers, and rejected the call to accept more economic migrants. Obviously, he is manifesting considerable skill in framing the issue and in acting on it. 

The Washington Post explains:

In July, the new president — an avowed globalist — seemed to make good on his earlier campaign promises of goodwill toward migrants. “From now until the end of the year, I don’t want anyone on the streets, in the forests,” he said in a speech at a camp in Orléans, vowing “to accommodate everyone in a dignified way” and to establish “emergency accommodation everywhere.”

But there was a fine print to these remarks, a subtle distinction lost on many of those who rushed to express their support for the new president on social media. Macron was technically referring only to political asylum seekers or, as he put it, “those who are persecuted.” By contrast, the people merely seeking a better life in France were a different story. As Macron said in the same speech: “No country can take in all the economic migrants.”

To that end, Macron has spent considerable amounts of time since his election with Libyan and African leaders, devising checkpoints overseas intended to sift the asylum seekers from potential economic migrants and curb the total number of migrants actually arriving in France.

Now, the French government has been removing migrants from the streets… especially in North Paris. They have not made Paris into a sanctuary city and have not adopted a kind and gentle approach:

On a domestic level, the French government has wasted no time in pursuing Macron’s promise to get migrants off the streets and out of the forests, evacuating people from makeshift camps across Paris and elsewhere and sending them to shelters throughout the country. Respecting “dignity,” however, has not been a priority, critics say.

Over the summer, a Human Rights Watch report alleged that French riot police — the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, or CRS — “routinely use pepper spray on child and adult migrants while they are sleeping or in other circumstances in which they pose no threat.” Migrants in Calais recounted similar experiences to The Washington Post, and an internal investigation launched by the French Interior Ministry in response to the Human Rights Watch report ultimately ruled that police abuses were “plausible.”

Of course, the empathy brigade finds this unacceptable. Complaints are coming from the left.

“The values of France are threatened by the fact that, little by little, the idea has taken root that we can treat people in an inhuman way,” said Jacques Attali, a prominent economist and former Macron adviser, speaking on France’s BFM-TV on Monday.

“I was in Calais and I saw with my own eyes the police gas migrants,” he said.

Of course, we would like to know the context of these “gassings.” We would like more information about the “jungle” in Calais… encampment that the government has tried to break up.

We will not join Attali in whining about the fate of these migrants. After all, the French government is happily offering them a cash payment to leave the country and to return home.