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France gets tough on illegal immigration,
setting quotas for arrests, expulsions
Associated
Press
Tuesday June 5, 2007
PARIS - France set tough new quotas for the number of illegal
immigrants authorities should arrest and expel each month, the new immigration
minister said Monday.
Brice Hortefeux, who heads the newly created Ministry of Immigration,
Integration, National Identity and Co-Development, said a monthly quota
also would be set for ferreting out those employed in France illegally.
In a meeting with security officials, Hortefeux reiterated President Nicolas
Sarkozy’s goal of 25,000 expulsions by the end of 2007 - compared
with 24,000 in 2006 - and set a year-end goal of 125,000 arrests for alleged
illegal entry or illegal residence, a ministry statement said. The number
of those already arrested was not immediately clear.
Sarkozy, who was elected May 6, pledged during his campaign to create
a ministry of immigration and national identity to rein in the flow of
migrants and ensure they are integrated into French society. Riots in
French housing projects in 2005 were largely driven by anger among children
of immigrants at persistent discrimination and a feeling of alienation
from mainstream society.
Hortefeux said the new measures were aimed at "dismantling networks
that exploit the misery of illegal immigrants," the statement said.
His orders came after he and Prime Minister Francois Fillon visited a
holding center for illegal immigrants Monday _ and three days after the
bodies of 18 illegal immigrants were fished from the Mediterranean by
the crew of a French frigate.
The dead _ 12 men, two adolescent boys and four women _ were believed
to be seeking new lives in Europe, though it was not clear what country
they were coming from. They will be buried in France.
"The French Republic will be extremely firm. It will ensure laws
are applied," Fillon said, adding: "Naturally, these laws must
be applied with the greatest humanity."
Many saw Sarkozy’s proposal as a nod to the electorate on the extreme
right, which long has made fighting immigration one of its main causes.
"Generosity is not opening wide the borders without thought for how
people will integrate, how they will live, how they will subsist,"
Fillon said.
Hortefeux, in his meeting with security officials, also insisted on the
need to develop a system of paying illegal immigrants to voluntarily return
home, setting the number of paid departures at 2,500 for this year _ a
25 percent increase from 2006.
Those volunteering to leave, as part of a program started in late 2005,
are given a fixed sum of money, normally $4,700 per couple, with $1,350
each for the first three children.
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