In June this year, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin summoned the country’s regional prefects with a clear message, that the time has come for France has to take decisive action against foreigners who committed serious crimes such as second-degree murder, drug trafficking, and rape.
France has seen series of brutal crimes committed by immigrants particularly of one religion and now swift and strict action will be taken against perpetrators. Residence permits of immigrants will be reviewed and serious offenders will be deported.
“Every year, the French Republic takes in people from other countries. One of the conditions for this is strict compliance with the rules and laws that govern its territory,” the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche quoted from a template of the letter, which concludes with a warning: “Any further crime will lead to a re-examination of your residence status, which could result in your being required to leave France.”
As of now, the French government also released new figures on deportations that have around 23,000 names on France’s Watch List for the Prevention of Terrorist Radicalization (FSPRT).
In the last five years, more than 250 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in France as regional governments responded by introducing tougher laws.
“More recently, the perpetrators are no longer French citizens who grew up in France and went to French schools. For two or three years now, they’re more likely to be foreign nationals, some of whom have legal status in France – as asylum seekers, for example – while others are in the country irregularly,” explains Marc Hecker, a terrorism expert, and director of research at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.
In France, Human rights have always been a top priority, and deportation of migrants is a sensitive issue, however, the state’s resources are now being drained as security agencies have to keep constant surveillance on them and also provide social security to these people.
Terrorism expert Marc Hecker comments that “sending radicalized people to countries that don’t have the same surveillance capabilities as France naturally increases the problem for those countries.”
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