Algeria is one of the countries well known for refusing to take back illegal migrants from Europe, including those convicted of serious crimes. However, the North African country has no qualms about partaking in mass deportations, often with brutal methods, with little in terms of consequences from the so-called humanitarian West.
More than 1,100 irregular migrants were simply expelled into the desert by Algerian authorities last Saturday, with most of them sub-Saharan Africans, according to French publication RFI. It marks the first time this many migrants have ever been expelled by Algeria into this desert, notoriously known as Point Zero, at once.
However, it is far from the only time Algeria has partaken in such methods.
In fact, in 2024, a record number of migrants were expelled from Algeria into Niger, equaling 31,404, according to Nigerien NGO Alarme Phone Sahara (APS), which aids migrants traveling in the desert between the two nations. Some believe that this figure may be far higher, as the data is unreliable.
The APS NGO described the expulsions as “violent” and “fatal,” but Algeria appears to simply conduct pushbacks with impunity. Since 2014, the country has become a major transit point for illegal migrants into Europe, but when Algeria decides to, it simply pushes migrants into the desert en masse, hundreds at a time.
“At least 31,404 people… were expelled from Algeria to the Niger border during the year 2024,” wrote Alarme Phone Sahara in a press release. In 2024, the number of people expelled by Algiers “exceeds all documented figures from previous years,” including that of 2023 when Algerian authorities turned 26,031 people back to Niger.
What does such a pushback into Point Zero look like?
Algerian authorities simply pull a bus up in the desert loaded with migrants and tell them to start walking through blistering heat towards the Nigerien town of Assamakka, where an International Organization for Migration (IOM) transit center operates. In other instances, they release the migrants in the middle of the night and let them walk through the dark.
Western countries often feature months or years of court battles featuring NGOs, lawyers and human rights groups, often all well-funded by European taxpayers. Algeria appears to cut through all of this and just drops migrants off in the desert with little fanfare.
Speaking to InfoMigrants, Mamadou, a 22-year-old Senegalese national, said he spent more than 20 days in an Algerian prison after being arrested. He does not mention any court or human rights lawyers. He says he was simply handcuffed and forced onto a bus.
“After five or six hours… we were dropped off in the desert, there was nothing around. He said the Algerian police shouted: “Here is Assamakka!’ while pointing to the horizon. ‘The IOM, it’s straight ahead'”
“We set off, I don’t remember for how long. All I remember is that I was exhausted, completely exhausted. I still managed to walk the 10 kilometers that separated us from Assamakka,” he added.
In another piece from InfoMIgrants, the paper interviewed another migrant, Alpha Mohamed, who said: “We were abandoned at Point Zero at 2 a.m. and we had to walk on our crutches for hours. We finally made it to Assamakka at 11 am.”
Reportedly, some migrants do not ever reach Assamakka. For those in poor health, the extreme heat can be deadly.
Once in Niger, the situation is not better, as the country has limited resources and food to offer the migrants. The majority register with the IOM in order to return to their countries, but some seek other methods to head north into Europe.
Algeria refuses to take back illegal migrants from Europe
Of course, while some European NGOs and human rights groups are going to call attention to Algeria’s pushbacks, the global media will barely bat an eye at Algeria’s mass desert deportations. For one, it does not fit the narrative. Arabs are supposed to be a repressed group incapable of racism, colonialism, or bigotry, while Europeans are portrayed supposed to be uniquely xenophobic. If Arabs are participating in mass deportations, the European population also may begin to question why they are not mass deporting Arabs, especially when they commit serious crimes in Europe.
For instance, when an Algerian female migrant murdered, raped and tortured 13-year-old Lola in Paris, the data revealed that only 0.2 percent of Algerians who were ordered to be deported in France had actually been deported. The problem? Algeria refuses to take these migrants back.
While the European left endlessly goes on about “White colonialism” and “White racism,” in many cases, the Arab countries are just as concerned with “demographic replacement” as any European nationalist. As Remix News reported in the past, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has routinely talked about a “plot to change Tunisia’s demographics” through mass immigration.
“Migration is a plot to change Tunisia’s demographics. Traitors who are working for foreign countries and shady parties are targeting the Tunisian state, said Saied last month. “Today, they are speaking about the issue of (Sub-Saharan) African (migrants), and we’re proud of our African identity. We helped them during the Covid-19 pandemic, distributing medicines. But today they want to change the demographic composition of Tunisia. It’s a plot and they got paid for it, like they got paid in other fields to attack the state.”
The Tunisian leader had said in February that “urgent measures” were needed to tackle the issue of irregular immigrants from Sub-Saharan countries, “with their violence, crimes and unacceptable practices.”
In fact, Tunisia, which neighbors Algeria, is known to partake in the same practices of forcing Blacks to the border.
In the videos, the Black migrants accuse Tunisian police of beating them and pushing them into Libya.
