During the last debate, most of the candidates agreed on one point: the return of the double penalty, which allows a convicted foreigner to be expelled as soon as he leaves prison. Except that this measure exists and it is already applied.
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During the last Les Républicains debate, the candidates again spoke of security and justice with a proposal, in particular, which was almost unanimous. It is about the return of the double sentence, ie the possibility of expelling a foreigner who has just served his prison sentence. “Me, I immediately demand the return of the double penalty: it is the prison and the plane”, explains Eric Ciotti. “That was a mistake to delete it, abounds Phillipe Juvin, you have to know how to recognize your mistakes. “” Yes to double the penalty “, concludes Michel Barnier. Except … this measure has never been removed and it is still applied.
We find the double penalty in article 131-30 of the Penal Code: “The penalty of ban from French territory can be pronounced, definitively or for a period of ten years, against any foreigner guilty of a felony or an offense. The ban from the territory entails full right the escort of the condemned to the border at the expiration of his prison sentence “. Clearly, today, a foreigner can be sentenced to a prison sentence and then be expelled from the territory if the judge decides.
This measure concerned just over 2,900 people in 2018 (latest figures known). In most cases, it applies for crimes such as robbery with violence or drug trafficking. It can also be applied in the event of terrorism, serious violence or even white marriages.
It all started with a modification of the law in 2003. Nicolas Sarkozy was at the time Minister of the Interior and he decided to adapt this device. For example by no longer authorizing the expulsions of convicted foreigners if they have lived in France since the age of 13 or if they are responsible for the education of a child.
It was therefore a relief, not a deletion, but this is not what elected officials retained. In 2015, for example, members of the National Front accused Nicolas Sarkozy of having abolished the double penalty. Intoxication repeated many times to the point that today even the candidates for the nomination of the Republicans have come to believe it.