Paris: France worsened its immigration policy in 2009 with the expulsion of 29,000 immigrants, while it announced granting of naturalisation to 1,08,000 foreigners.
French Minister of Immigration Eric Besson said in a statement to the press that 1,75,000 citizens of different countries entered the French national territory legally and they were given long stay visas.
Besson said that the 2,000 more immigrants over the 27,000 expelled by the government were illegitimate.
He added that only 12 Afghans were deported from France and another 250 received political asylum, differently from Great Britain, where more than 1,000 Afghan citizens were repatriated.
The opposition left-wing parties and human rights defender organisations criticised the administration of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and pointed out that their migration
policy was unworthy.
They also criticised the debate initiated by Sarkozy on national identity, which in their opinion distorts the idea itself.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 08, 2010, 16:02