French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has suggested that those handed deportation orders should also be put on the criminal wanted person list in order to better facilitate removing them from the country.

Minister Darmanin stated Wednesday that he would like to see those with deportation orders placed on the wanted list as part of a new immigration law to make the carrying out of deportations from France more effective.

“We will now register all [deportation orders] in the wanted persons file, the RPF. It is not a question of reinstating the offence of illegally staying but of being able to see that the person leaves (…) and thus count all the departures of foreigners,” Darmanin said,” the newspaper Le Figaro reports.

Darmanin also responded to criticism from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally over the small number of deportations that are actually carried out, arguing that around 50 per cent of deportation orders are currently in an appeals process.

The deportation rate in France was revealed to be incredibly low in recent years as media noted that over 90 per cent of those with deportation orders were not removed from French territory, correcting right-wing politicians who underestimated the number.

In the first half of 2021, just six per cent of the deportation orders were actually carried out and even prior to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, the level remained at just 12 per cent between 2018 and 2019.

The French public, meanwhile, overwhelmingly wants more done to deport illegals, with a poll showing that 6 in 10 were in favour of placing all illegal immigrants in detention centres in order to process their deportation.

While France has room for nearly 2,000 illegals in the detention centres and is planning to increase that number by 300, the number of illegals living in the country is estimated at anywhere between 600,000 to 700,000.

The subject of deportation orders has been the topic of discussion in France since the murder of a 12-year-old named Lola in Paris last month.

It was reported that the main suspect in the case, an Algerian named Dhabia B., had a deportation order and should have left the country weeks prior to the death of the young girl but the order was never carried out.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.