French President Emmanuel Macron called for all radical Islamist migrants residing in France to be removed from the country in the wake of the suspected Islam-inspired assassination of a middle school teacher on Friday.
President Macron has tasked Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to carry out a “ruthless” examination of the files of those who “carry hatred and terrorist ideologies” over the next 48 hours in order to remove foreign-born Islamists from France, Le Figaro reports.
It comes after Dominique Bernard, a middle school teacher in the city of Arras, was allegedly stabbed to death by a suspected Islamist named Mohamed Mogouchkov. The Russian-born suspect was reportedly on the country’s extremist watch list — referred to as having an “S file” — prior to the attack and had also reportedly been subject to a deportation order in 2014 that was successfully quashed by appeals from pro-migrant groups.
Darmanin has said out of the over 20,000 S files — not all of which remain active — there are at least 489 extremist foreigners who are considered to be a danger to the country residing in France. A further 300 radical foreigners are currently in prison or under house arrest. The minister said that the government will seek to “systematically deport” them following the end of their prison sentence.
Darmanin is set to meet with officials on Tuesday “to re-examine the administrative situation of all foreign nationals followed by the intelligence services under radical Islamism, by systematically initiating procedures of removal and expulsion.” This will not only include illegal migrants but those who are legally in the country as well by the removal of residence permits and asylum protections.
Local governments will also be tasked with examining foreign family units, in particular, those from the Caucasus region, to “review the situation of reported minor aliens” suspected of holding radical Islamist beliefs. Both the alleged killers of Dominque Bernard and Samuel Paty — another French teacher who was beheaded three years ago in an Islamist attack — were said to be young men of Chechnian heritage.
Meanwhile, the president of the French National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet said on Monday morning that the government should seek to implement reforms to the country’s immigration system before the end of the year, saying: “When we have people who are not integrated, who are radicalized, who have a fierce hatred for the Republic, we must be able to keep them away, we must blow up this protection.”
Braun-Pivet went on to question the “almost absolute protection reserved for certain foreigners on our territory” from deportation, such as those married to French women, and those who have children born in France.
The government has received some support from the local Muslim community in its plans to deport radical Islamists, including from Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, who said on Saturday that the government should deport all foreigners with an S file “without pity“.
“Are we going to wait until they kill half our teachers? Our future is unclear. We must show that the Republic is firm,” the Imam said.