Roma after being expelled from an abandoned warehouse where they had been living, Dec. 10, 2013, in Floirac, near Bordeaux, France. Jean Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images

France forcibly evicted a record 19,380 Roma migrants in 2013 — more than double the figure from the previous year — two rights groups said in a joint report released Tuesday.

The France-based Human Rights League (LDH) and the Hungary-based European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) said the number was a startling increase from the 9,404 Roma evicted in 2012 and the 8,455 evicted in 2011.

"Forced evictions continued almost everywhere without credible alternative housing solutions or social support," they said.

France and many other Western European countries have been dealing with increased tensions between Roma — who often live in rundown areas on the edges of cities — and other residents. Lately the debate has become polarized, with more Roma being deported and far-right and leftist groups calling for their eviction.

The controversy has been especially palpable in France, where socialist President Francois Hollande, once thought a supporter of Roma rights, has taken a hard line on the ethnic group. Interior Minister Manuel Valls has said Roma are “different from us” and incapable of becoming integrated into French society.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has opposed allowing Romania and Bulgaria — where many of France’s Roma come from — to join the European Union’s Schengen area, within which passport checks at border crossings are not required. The European Commission is deciding whether to allow the two countries to join the zone.