Paris, Sept 30: France has expelled more than 22,000 illegal immigrants so far this year, meeting a government target set as part of a new get-tough policy, according to the interior ministry. Most of those deported came from Algeria, Cameroon, China, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey and Pakistan, the ministry said in a statement released yesterday. The numbers were based on deportations from January through August.

A third of the total of 22,053 people concerned were sent home to their countries of origin. Another third were denied entry during attempts to cross borders into France. The others were returned to the last European country visited before entering France, as permitted under European Union rules, the ministry statement said.
The center-right government has said it wants to send home between 20,000 and 30,000 illegal immigrants every year.

France's law-and-order interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has spearheaded the effort to stem the tide of illegal immigration to France as part of an overall crackdown on crime.

Despite objections from human rights groups, the government has reintroduced a policy of chartering planes to expel illegal immigrants en masse.

Bureau Report