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Sans Papiers


NormanH
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Yep, there was an item about a guy working sans papiers on the news the other week.  He was fired by his boss, supposedly for being an illegal alien, but the guy took his boss to the prud'hommes and won.  Turned out his boss had known all along that the guy wasn't legit, but had hired him anyway as he could pay him less than regular workers.

 

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Many of those "sans papiers" have been working here for 5, 7, 8 years for the same employer - who close their eyes to the illegal status, as it is so much cheaper for them. Many of these folks live in fear of being arrested, their living and working conditions are atrocious, they have no medical or social cover - even though they pay tax, some of them!

Especially in Ile de France, the whole sanitation and rubbish collection industry relies heavily on its Malian and Senegalese workers. It is well known that France benefits hugely from underpaid, illegal African workers, it has gone on for years, everyone knows about it, including at government level. Some kind of modern slavery. France, "le pays des droits de l'Homme"! Ha!

Since Sarkozy announced working sans-papiers should be regularised, the illegals are trying to take him to task, as there have been so many promises made, for so many years, to no avail. Watch this space, but don't hold your breath.

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My son in law is Malian and lives in Il de France.He knows loads that are sans papier (he isnt).My daughter gets quite annoyed because when they first got married she had problems sorting out her health cover.The sans papier get free health cover legally because they are illegal so I think the government should review things especially with the problems some of the English are having.
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You probably mean l'AME (Aide Médicale d'Etat): http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F3079.xhtml

In theory, and for some people, it is there. In reality, new decrees which are designed to tighten up,  and lack of adapted structures, have been making it more and more difficult to access. As has been said, many of the illegal full-time workers do not have access to any kind of social cover for whatever reason.

As for the government "reviewing things" to make life even more difficult for all sans-papiers, have no fear, Mr. Brice Hortefeux is trying his very best - his quota for the number of "sans-papiers" to expel is 26,000 this year, so that the préfets of all départements have in turn, been tightly briefed recently to make sure they up the figures of those illegals who are "reconduits a la frontiere".

On top of that, bear in mind that even people who benefit from CMU complémentaire in theory, can be refused treatment by some doctors. It is not strictly legal, but it happens, more and more frequently. Unfortunately I cannot give figures, but these practices were recently exposed in a French TV programme.

 

As for the people in the above Figaro article, everything is legal for them: they are legally employed, have signed a contract, contribute to the Sécurité sociale, have a carte vitale, and pay tax, one of the ones who were interviewed has been employed for 8 years by the same firm. The only "illegal" part is not to have a valid titre de séjour. In many cases, the employer knows that the ID papers they saw before employing one of these men, are false.

Other workers in a similar situation before have obtained their regularisation after a similar strike. On the face of it, they would seem to be exactly the kind of people that Sarkozy claimed should become legal. "On bosse ici, on vit ici, on reste ici!" (We work here, we live here, we stay here)

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