The government launches the “Mayotte place net” operation to fight against illegal immigration

A year after the first operation, the new operation began around 7 a.m. Tuesday and provides new means for this intervention.

The “Mayotte place net” operation was launched on Tuesday April 16 around 7 a.m., according to information from franceinfo. This operation should last 11 weeks, until the end of June. A year after the start of the first operation, called “Wuambushu”, the objective stated by the executive remains the same: to fight against illegal immigration, insecurity and unsanitary housing.

According to information from franceinfo, the operation aims to arrest 60 gang leaders over the total duration of the operation. It also aims to destroy 1,300 bangas, these unsanitary makeshift shelters in which many irregular migrants live. These irregular migrants will be deported. The others will be rehoused using a budget of 5 million euros. A fourth administrative detention center, created for the occasion, will be effective at the end of the week.

No police reinforcements, but “specialists”

Criticized for its lackluster results after the start of “Wuambushu”, “reprise” in Mahorese, the executive wants to show that it persists and adapts. Last September, the Ministry of the Interior assured that violence had fallen by 10% in recent months on the island. This new operation will notably include the deployment of resources at sea, such as a national navy boat in the Mozambique Channel to cut off the Great Lakes route where many migrants pass. There will be no police reinforcements in terms of maintaining order but “specialists” will be deployed on site. These are several dozen officials from the border police and the judicial police who arrive from Paris to ensure monitoring and better target arrests and prosecutions. A surveillance plane is deployed on site.

Two months before the European elections, this operation is an opportunity to take stock: 700 bangas – these unsanitary dwellings in which the poorest populations are crowded – destroyed in one year; 60 gang-related arrests; and 25,000 expulsions of illegal aliens. This operation also comes at a time when Mayotte is becoming a campaign ground, two months before the European elections, with the trip of Marine Tondelier, the boss of the Ecologists, then, at the end of the week, of the head of deputies of the National Rally Marine Le Pen.