EU Justice states that illegal immigrants will not be held

                   

The countries of the European Union (EU) can not stop the illegal migrants to have joined the Schengen area without the relevant documentation, estimated the European justice in a decision published on Tuesday.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Community law precludes the detention of illegal migrants before the expulsion procedure of the EU.

Justice should rule on the case of "illegal entry" in France for a Ghanaian, Selina Affum, detained by police in 2013 at the entrance of the Channel tunnel, on a bus from Belgium without valid identity documents.

Selina Affum was remanded in custody "for illegal entry into French territory," a classification covered by the French court, but the interested challenged.

In its ruling Tuesday, the European Court contends that the decision involving Affum was contrary to European legislation on the expulsion of irregular foreigners.

The so-called "return directive" "opposes any rule of a Member State which punishes with imprisonment the irregular situation", which stipulates the French legislation.

This same policy, adds the court, "prohibits a citizen of a country outside the EU to be held prior to the implementation of the return procedure by the mere fact of having illegally entered the territory of a Member State."

European law states that the return procedure assumes first the possibility of a voluntary return, and if necessary, expulsion measures "coercive least possible".

The arrest is possible only when we performed the previous procedure and abroad continue illegally in Europe.

In the case of Affum the French authorities had not initiated any deportation proceedings.