Under an obligation to leave French territory, the young man could be deported to Algeria within 48 hours.
The young Algerian whom the mayor of Béziers (Hérault), Robert Ménard, refused to marry, was placed in a detention center and is about to be deported to Algeria, learned France Bleu Hérault from the prisoner’s companion , confirmed by the Hérault prefecture.
>>> “I will not marry them!” : the mayor of Béziers refuses the union of a Frenchwoman with an Algerian threatened with expulsion
Monday July 17, the 23-year-old man was summoned by the border police, at the request of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, to take stock of his administrative situation, explains his companion, to France Bleu Hérault. But “he did not return last night and he was kept in detention at the request of the prefecture“, she worries. The prefecture confirmed to France Bleu Hérault that the young man had indeed been placed in an administrative detention zone in Sète (Hérault) on Monday evening. Under an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory), he could be deported within 48 hours, provided that Algeria grants a laissez-passer.
The judge of freedoms and detention must rule on Wednesday on his release or the extension of his detention, the time that the prefect of Hérault takes all the steps of expulsion with the Algerian consulate, his country of origin.
A complaint filed by the couple
The young man, in France since the age of 16, is in an irregular situation. He is subject to an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF) issued on August 26, 2022. This sailor, a graduate of the high school of the sea in Sète, was to marry Friday July 7 with a Biterroise, former secretary of a lawyer. But Mayor Robert Ménard refused to celebrate this union, despite the approval of justice. The aedile suspected “a white wedding“.”This situation is ludicrous“, Robert Ménard told France Bleu Hérault on July 7. “The government complains of not finding the individuals who must be expelled from the territory, and there will be one in my town hall, and I will have to marry him? There is no question !“
The couple together since 2022 deny the accusations of white marriage: “We are in love“. They for their part filed a complaint at the Béziers police station. Another identical complaint was filed by SOS Racisme at the national level to enforce the fundamental right to be able to marry.