The interim president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, says that only one in ten obligation to leave the territory is applied in France. It’s true.
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Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin shows his firmness on the expulsion of illegal aliens who are subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF). But for the interim president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, the government’s record in this area is not “not up to par” : “90%, these are the figures, this is the government’s balance sheet, 90% of the obligations to leave French territory are not carried out. So today everyone goes back to our country, but no one goes out“, says Jordan Bardella Tuesday, July 26 on BFM.
The figure put forward by Jordan Bardella is not far from reality. In 2020, out of 107,500 OQTFs issued, less than 7% were executed. And the rate is still a little lower in the first half of 2021, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior cited in a Senate report. But you still have to put these numbers in context. Covid-19 has clearly had an impact on the execution rate of deportation of illegal aliens after an OQTF. Before the health crisis, the execution rate was around 15%.
A drop in particular linked to the health measures put in place at the borders of the countries of origin, with in particular the presentation of a vaccination pass or a negative test for lack of a vaccine. For Algeria, for example, the number of removals has thus fallen from 1,652 removals in 2019 to 34 last year.
More broadly, the weak application of OQTFs can also be explained by the lack of cooperation from the countries of origin. To expel an undocumented foreigner, they must provide a consular pass. However, this document is provided in less than half of the cases. In response, the French government announced in September last year that it wanted to restrict visas issued to Algerians, Tunisians and Moroccans to encourage these countries to cooperate more on OQTFs.