France to Tighten Immigration Laws, Track Deportation Orders

The government wants to make life impossible for immigrants threatened with expulsion in France. "We will now register all OQTFs in the file of wanted persons, the FPR" in order "to be able to note that the person is leaving [...] and thus to count all the departures of foreigners," explained Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to the newspaper Le Monde. This announcement follows the reactions recorded since the murder of a 12-year-old girl, Lola, killed in mid-October by an Algerian national under an OQTF.

This desire of the government is part of the main measures of the future immigration law. It aims to make OQTFs more effective, given the low execution rate of these measures. Out of about 120,000 OQTFs issued per year, less than 10% have been executed. "First, there are nearly 50% of the OQTFs that are the subject of appeals that suspend them," defended the minister. His wish, he will say, is to "greatly simplify the procedures" by going "from twelve to four categories of possible appeals".

Another measure recorded in the future law: to put an end to the "public order reserves" which "prevent the removal of people who arrived before the age of 13" in France. The government wants to leave "to the judge the responsibility of deciding whether or not they should remain," stressed Gérald Darmanin, adding that the draft law also provides for several reforms in the field of asylum, including the generalization of the single judge at the National Court of Asylum (CNDA), where a collegiate training will only meet for "very difficult cases".