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7 000 illegals given amnesty
18/09/2006 22:23 - (SA)
Paris - France has selected nearly 7 000
illegal immigrants out of 30 000 applicants to benefit from a
special one-off measure granting them permanent residency,
interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday.
Sarkozy, the conservative frontrunner for a presidential
election next year, tightened residency rules after suburban
youths - many of them descendants of immigrants - staged
violent riots in poor neighbourhoods last year.
But he announced in June that some illegal immigrants could
be granted residency status if their children attended French
schools, were born there or had come to France at a very young
age and had a "real willingness to integrate".
"The exact number of people that have been legalised ... is
6 924," Sarkozy said in a France 2 television. 'Arbitrary'
Sarkozy rejected criticism from rights groups who said the
the criteria for choosing those granted residency was arbitrary
and called for a mass amnesty for all the 30 000 illegal
immigrants who had applied to the scheme.
"If you have been in France for 3 to 4 years and you don't
speak a word of French, that is not a sign of someone wanting to
integrate. "Tell me how you can integrate in France if you don't
speak a word of French," Sarkozy said.
Hundreds of people have campaigned against the expulsion of
illegal immigrant families in past months, saying the government
tried to use children registered at French schools as a way of
tracking down families without residency papers. French lessons
A new law by Sarkozy makes it harder for resident immigrants
to bring family members here, forces newcomers to take French
civic lessons and rescinds the right of illegal migrants to
apply for a residence permit after 10 years in France.
The law has triggered large protests in France and former
colonies in West Africa, with critics saying it hurts immigrants
who are already living on the margins of society.
The debate gathered steam when police evicted hundreds of
people - many of them immigrants - from an area outside Paris
last month. About 200 people are still camping in a gym, refusing
to move until they are given permanent housing.
About 4.9 million immigrants live in France, official data
shows. Officials estimate 200 000 to 400 000 foreigners live in
the country illegally.
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