Deportations pass 2008 targets
Critics hit out at “brutal” policy while immigration ministry says it is “not ashamed” of figures.
FRANCE deported close to 30,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, surpassing its annual expulsions target.
A total of 29,799 foreigners were forced to leave the country in 2008, up from 23,200 the previous year, a police spokesman said.
Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux had set a target of 26,000 deportations for last year. For 2007, the goal was 25,000.
Rights groups have severely criticised the deportations and some local politicians have accused the government of exerting strong pressure on police to track down and expel foreigners in order to meet the target.
“This is a positive figure that the ministry is not ashamed of,” said an official in the immigration department.
The directeur general of the asylum groupFrance Terre d'Asile Pierre Henry told Reuters that Hortefeux was running his department with “one eye on the polls and the other on the Elysée.”
The secretary general of la Cimade which helps asylum seekers, Laurent Giovannoni said the policy was “dogmatic and brutal”.
During its six-month stint at the helm of the European Union, France spearheaded negotiations on a new immigration pact, adopted in October and which outlines measures for fighting illegal immigration.
Hortefeux said that the pact would help organise legal immigration in the EU while breaking up illegal operations.
Photo:MEDEF
