By: V4 Agency
While immigrants make up 7.4 per cent of the population, they commit 19 per cent of crimes, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said.
As the grandchild of immigrants, I do not claim that there is a link between crime and immigration, but it would be foolish not to say that a significant proportion of crime is committed by immigrants,” the French interior minister said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).
Mr Darmanin explained:
In Paris, 48 per cent of people arrested for crimes are foreigners. The same number is 39 per cent in Lyon, and 55 per cent in Marseilles.
“Of course foreigners are not criminals by nature”, but it is clear that migrant crime is a serious problem for France, the interior minister added. He pointed out that an immigrant who commits a serious crime should be expelled swiftly, because he is contemptuous of the land that has welcomed him.
All well-meaning French people, the workers as well as those belonging to the middle class, would agree with this, regardless of “whether the criminals are called called Robert or Mohamend,” Mr Darmanin has said.
The interior minister’s recent announcement has stirred up public sentiment nationwide. Mr Darmanin plans to expel a radical imam of Moroccan descent from the country for his regular hate speeches targeting the values of the Republic, and for his incitement against France on social media.
Hassan Iquioussen, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube, has systematically attacked in his speeches the values of the French Republic and the principles of equality between women and men. He emphasized that the behaviour and acts of believers should be guided by Sharia law, be it about private life or social coexistence.
The administrative court in Paris, however, suspended the imam’s expulsion procedure on the grounds that his deportation would cause a disproportionately negative impact on the Moroccan man’s private life and family, which is unacceptable under the rule of law. In response, IM Gerald Darmanin turned to the Council of State and is filing an appeal against the court decision.
The Council of State will allow the imam’s expulsion, the interior minister opined in an interview with JDD, arguing that France has a right to defend itself.
France is either allowed by the law to defend itself, or it forbids the expulsion process, but in that case the law must be changed in a way that it better protects French people, he said, adding that in any case, the imam in question is not a French citizen, and his words are not in any way in accordance with the spirit and values of the Republic.
It appears that the majority of the French are in agreement. A survey conducted by the CSA institute suggests that 91 per cent of French people would agree with the expulsion of imams engaging in hate speech against the values of the French Republic, with only 9 per cent having responded by saying that it was not a good idea.