The government’s reaction was almost immediate. Three days after the attack perpetrated in a high school in Arras, the Minister of the Interior sent a telegram to the prefects to request the “expulsion of any foreigner considered dangerous by the intelligence services”. A wish that came from the president himself: Emmanuel Macron demanded that the file of radicalized people be scrutinized, in order to ensure that he had not “overlooked” in the examination of the procedures. And thus prevent the drama which led to the assassination of Dominique Bernard, professor of literature, from happening again.
The main suspect, Mohammed M., a 20-year-old Russian who arrived in France at the age of 5, was in an irregular situation. His request for asylum as well as his appeal were rejected in 2021 and 2022. Since this summer, he has been the subject of “active monitoring by the DGSI” due to his radicalization. At the beginning of October, although no offense could be noted despite surveillance and telephone tapping, he was placed on S file and included in the file of radicalized people. It was eleven days before his act.
“No foreigner is indeportable”
In his telegram, the Minister of the Interior asked his prefects to bring together the departmental evaluation groups on Tuesday, in order to “evaluate the administrative situation of all foreigners followed by the intelligence services under Islam radical “. Above all, he demands that they “systematically” initiate removal or expulsion procedures. And this, whether he is in a regular or irregular situation. “Apart from minors, no foreigner is ineligible for expulsion,” says Stéphane Maugendre, a lawyer specializing in foreigners’ law. However, the council calls for being wary of “globalizing” speeches. “Each situation is assessed on a case-by-case basis, which is what the Minister of the Interior has asked his services to do. »
Concretely, the file for processing reports for the prevention of radicalization of a terrorist nature (FSPRT) has 20,120 files, but only 5,100 are active, indicated this Monday, on the sidelines of the security meeting at the Elysée, Gérald Darmanin. This file, he clarified, mixes “dangerous people and people who are reported as being in potential links with dangerous people, who are therefore not of the same nature. » Clearly, there are people whose radicalization is effective and documented, sometimes accompanied by acts, and others whose radicalization is much more evanescent, whose registration may be linked only to the relationship with another registered.
193 “dangerous” files “in the process of expulsion”
According to the minister, 489 “dangerous” and illegal people are officially on the territory. Among them, nearly 300 are currently deprived of their liberty: 214 are in detention or in a psychiatric hospital, 82 are under house arrest. These cannot therefore be expelled immediately. This leaves 193 foreigners considered dangerous and currently “in the process of being expelled”. According to the minister’s entourage, 85 of them “are undoubtedly no longer on the territory”, even if a “case-by-case verification” will be carried out.
So much for those whose dangerousness has already been detected. At the same time, a “case-by-case verification” should make it possible to “repaint” the situation of 2,852 legal foreigners registered with the FSPRT, continues the entourage of the tenant of Place Beauvau. It is mainly their situation that will be examined during the evaluation groups. If they were to be considered “a threat to public order”, their residence permit could then be withdrawn with a view to expulsion. “The more ties the person has to the territory – if they have lived in France for a long time, if they have started a family there, etc., the higher the degree of trouble they represent must be for their expulsion to be decided. It’s a proportional analysis,” explains Me Stéphane Maugendre.
Evictions governed by European law
Even under an expulsion order, the persons concerned can present their case before the administrative court. It is in fact impossible to send home a person who risks the death penalty or torture in their country of origin. And this, regardless of the risk it represents. “If we consider that she represents a danger for French society, there are other measures, in particular house arrest with a check-in every day, or even several times a day,” continues the specialist lawyer.
The question arises particularly for Russian nationals, for whom the Minister of the Interior has asked the prefects to pay particular attention. According to Gérald Darmanin, 59 Russians, the vast majority Chechens, are being monitored by specialized services. Among them, around forty are deprived of their liberty and around twenty can be deported. But France was condemned twice last year by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for having expelled – or wanted to do so – two Chechen nationals, thus exposing them to torture or inhuman treatment . The tenant of Place Beauvau has indicated that he wishes to resume negotiations with Russia on this point “to be able to resume the expulsions of particularly dangerous people on our national territory”. These were opened in 2020 and interrupted by the war with Ukraine.