Cash Investigation takes us to the heart of the immigration business

Hatred of migrants is hidden behind arguments brandished as rational and statistical by the far right. Immigration, according to its critics, would mechanically cause at least two effects: putting the French out of work and acting as a lever to push wages down. Journalist Marie Maurice dismantles these Trojan horses. Using internal documents from the Ministry of Labor that it obtained, it targets sectors and regions in which foreign workers from outside the European Union are over-represented.

She therefore goes to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to meet the president of Umih, Martine Courbon, in order to understand why. The example is simple: during the last organization of their job fairs, out of the thousands of positions offered, only around ten candidates presented themselves. Among them, only one was French. She gives substance to this observation by meeting migrants and their employers and provides poignant testimonies.

A private jet to deport migrants

The explanation for this situation is also detailed by Anthony Edo, economist at Cepii, an institute linked to Matignon. First of all, the researcher emphasizes one fact: if the French today imagine a share of foreigners of between 15 and 20%, it is in reality only 5% in France. For what is of particular interest to our subject, it attests to the fact that the French no longer accept the working conditions practiced by sectors in tension, such as catering, construction and social assistance.

He therefore affirms that competition takes place in these professions between immigrant workers and that this then has no impact on the wages of the French. So be it, the chauvinists can be reassured. But more importantly, the representatives of these sectors, with supporting figures, all make one observation: without immigrant labor, these parts of the French economy could not function. Thus, under the survey “Who benefits from immigration? », a first answer is given: it benefits France.

Then, a much more vicious element, it benefits those named in the survey the “Lodging Tontons”: Marie Maurice is interested in the financing system of the regional program for the reception and accommodation of asylum seekers (Prahda). It reveals how the accommodation centers took place in former hotels of the Formula 1 chain and brought in millions to private investors. Among which companies like BNP Paribas or MAIF. The latter, however, withdrew when she was alerted to the unsanitary, dangerous and undignified state of the accommodation housing men, but also families. Here again, the testimonies are chilling and the responses from those responsible even more so.

Another shocking revelation from the documentary: the State rents a private jet to an airline to carry out forced expulsions from the territory. It costs him millions. It is mainly families who are transported in this way. According to a source, their dismissal is thus more discreet. A complete investigation which dots the i’s on the eve of the preparation of yet another law on immigration.

Cash Investigation: who benefits from immigration? France 2, 21 h 10