Two migrant couples are facing serious allegations of modern slavery and exploitation in France after authorities uncovered what they describe as a long-running operation to profit from the vulnerability of illegal migrants.
The suspects — two couples aged between 35 and 61, reported by Le Parisien as being of Indian and Mauritian origin — are accused of employing and housing illegal migrants in degrading conditions in the Val-d’Oise towns of Pontoise and Cormeilles-en-Parisis.
They were arrested on Monday and subsequently charged with concealed work, employing foreigners without legal status, and providing substandard accommodation to vulnerable individuals. The four are due to appear at the Pontoise courthouse on July 3, with the case involving seizures amounting to €800,000.
The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed on Oct. 5 last year, when a Mauritian woman living illegally in France came forward to report what she called unbearable conditions. Having arrived in the country in 2023 to work as a nanny for a Mauritian family, she alleges to have been exploited, housed in substandard living quarters, and regularly humiliated by her employers.
According to investigators, multiple illegal migrants were being housed and employed by the two families involved. Profits generated from this activity are believed to have been invested in real estate back in Mauritius.
On Feb. 10, police raids on the two properties uncovered nearly €9,000 in cash and various employment contracts. One of the suspects later turned himself in and reportedly confessed, though his wife attempted to justify their actions as an effort to “help” her compatriots.
Authorities allege that one of the couples rented out the ground floor and an annex of their home in Cormeilles-en-Parisis to illegal migrants, often without the proper paperwork. The address was allegedly used by some of the tenants as a way to gain residency status or an official domicile, while none of the rent income was declared to the French tax authorities.
“This money received over 10 years was used to repay their mortgage and settle debts,” a source with knowledge of the case told the French newspaper.
The second couple, based in Pontoise, denied exploiting their domestic worker during their most recent police interview.
All four individuals have been released pending a decision by the Pontoise prosecutor’s office and have had their assets provisionally seized.
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