“I am the symbol of immigration law, the fuse,” reacted Friday the imam of Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard), deported Thursday evening to Tunisia. Although there is a new provision allowing identity documents to be seized at the foreign person’s home, the “absolute emergency” expulsion procedure is mainly based on already existing law.
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An extremely rapid expulsion. Targeted by a preliminary investigation for advocating terrorism and radical preaching, the imam of Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard), Mahjoub Mahjoubi, was expelled “less than 12 hours after his arrest”welcomed Gérald Darmanin on the social network X, Thursday February 22. “It is the demonstration that the immigration law, without which such a rapid expulsion would not have been possible, makes France stronger”he assured.
A few hours earlier, the Minister of the Interior specified that the imam had “subject to a home visit and arrest” permitted by immigration law, in force since the end of January. The imam was arrested Thursday on the basis of a ministerial expulsion order, then deported to Tunisia. He is notably accused in this judgment, which Franceinfo was able to consult, of conveying “a literal, retrograde, intolerant and violent conception of Islam” encouraging “behavior contrary to the values of the Republic”, as well as “discriminatory remarks against women”, and with regard to the Jews. For several days, the imam has denied having held of the “violent, discriminatory remarks, contrary to the values of the Republic“explained his lawyer on BFMTV on Thursday.
Was his departure made easier by immigration law? Franceinfo interviewed several lawyers specializing in immigration law.
When the authorities showed up at the home of imam Mahjoub Majoubi on Thursday, they were able to confiscate his Tunisian passport. it’s about the “home visit” mentioned by the Minister of the Interior, one of the new provisions of the immigration law, which came into force on January 28, and integrated into the new version of article 733-7 of the Entry and Stay Code foreigners and the right to asylum (Ceseda). “Upon a reasoned request from the administrative authority, the judge of freedoms and detention may also authorize, by the same decision, a visit to the foreigner’s home for the purposes of searching for and retaining any document attesting to her nationality”specifies the text of the law.
This modification of the Code “allows the passport to be seized at home, straight away. We can put the person on the plane immediately to the destination country chosen by the decision”, illustrious Aurélien Desingly, lawyer at Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes). In this sense, the expulsion of the imam was indeed accelerated by the new immigration law.
Eviction in “absolute emergency”, already provided for by law
Mahjoub Mahjoubi left French soil in 12 hours. If the expulsion happened so quickly, it is also thanks to “absolute emergency”, provided for by article L.632-1 of Ceseda. In reality, this absolute emergency procedure “has existed for more than half a century”, notes Stéphane Maugendre, lawyer and honorary president of the Immigrant Information and Support Group (Gisti) to franceinfo. It had already been introduced into French law with the law of January 10, 1980 relating to the prevention of illegal immigration, known as the “Bonnet law”, repealed the following year by François Mitterrand. It was then integrated into Ceseda in 2005 and ratified by a decision of the Constitutional Council in 2016.
In order to characterize this absolute emergency, in the case of Mahjoub Mahjoubi, the Ministry of the Interior invoked in its order “comments calling for hatred towards Jews and Israel and advocating jihad” can “inciting followers of the person concerned to commit violent acts”while there exists “a particularly high terrorist threat” following the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel.
“This procedure allows Gérald Darmanin to avoid any contradiction with the Paris administrative court and the judge of freedoms and detention, who are supposed to give their opinion for any non-urgent expulsion.”
Stéphane Maugendre, lawyerat franceinfo
In total, 44 people “considered dangerous and linked to radical Islam” were expelled from France in 2023, an increase of 26% compared to 2022, according to information from Figaro confirmed by the Minister of the Interior. In the case of an expulsion decided by the prefect (we then speak of a prefectural expulsion order), the procedure is not immediate. The person concerned must be heard by an Expulsion Commission (Comex), specifies the official website of the national administration.
“The immigration law may have made the task easier”
“The only little novelty in the immigration law [en matière de rapidité de la procédure d’expulsion]it is the possibility of taking the passport in an authoritarian manner without the consent of the person during the home visit”, judge Aurélien Desingly. Concretely, “the minister is right in saying that the immigration law has changed something. However, this change is only marginal.he believes.
For lawyer Denis Seguin, interviewed by franceinfo, “the new version of the text of the immigration law may have made the task easier” by modifying article L.631-3 of Ceseda. The law allowed, according to the lawyer, “to broaden the scope of application” cases in which a foreigner may be expelled, with the addition of the mention “deliberate and particularly serious violation of the principles of the Republic”. This article was in fact invoked in the ministerial decision to expel Imam Mahjoubi.
“I will fight to return to France where I have lived for forty years.” Reached by telephone from Tunisia where he was expelled, imam Mahjoub Mahjoubi denounced Friday a decision “arbitrary” and declared that he was going to take legal action in France. “If the court does not do me justice, I will appeal, and then I will appeal to the European Court” human rights, he explained to AFP. “I did not insult the Jewish community or the French flag”said the imam again.