France to add immigrants facing deportation to wanted list

PARIS

French authorities intend to file immigrants who could be expelled from the country in a wanted list to streamline deportations, a top official said on Wednesday.

The measures, which will be in a new immigration law, are meant to make "obligations to leave French territory more efficient," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in an interview with the daily Le Monde.

Listed immigrants will be joining, among others, individuals on the file of wanted persons sought by authorities to avert a serious threat to the public or state.

Darmanin said the bill will also contain measures to "facilitate the deportation of people who arrived in France before the age of 13," as well as to expedite the professional integration of migrant workers.

He mentioned in particular the creation of a residence permit for "professions in which there is a high demand" for workers. Under certain conditions, this will also shorten the six-month waiting period for asylum seekers before they can be employed, added the interior minister.

"If I had to summarize, I would say that from now on, we have to be bad to the bad guys and good to the good guys," Darmanin said. The new bill is scheduled to come to parliament in the first half of 2023.

The issue of deportation has preoccupied France since the murder of 12-year-old girl Lola in mid-October by an Algerian national who was to be deported. The woman, 24, had entered France legally in 2016 on a student residence permit.

On Aug. 21, she had been apprehended at a French airport for not having a residence permit.