France proceeded to the “voluntary departure” of 5,000 foreigners in 2021

The boss of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii), Didier Leschi, defends his “record”. Heard by the National Assembly Law Commission before a parliamentary vote for his appointment for a new term at the head of the Ofii, he explained that 5,000 people had opted for a “voluntary return”.

A procedure which consists, for the State, in proposing a flight and a sum of money (at least 1,850 euros) to encourage a migrant in an irregular situation to leave France and to return to his country of origin.

The health crisis has reduced “voluntary returns”

“We are in a very difficult period from the point of view of escapes (to the border) because of the health crisis”, underlined Didier Leschi. “For voluntary departures, we had risen to 8,000 in 2019, but the stopping of air transport, health difficulties, brought us back to around 5,000 departures in 2021”, against around 4,500 in 2020, explained Didier Leschi.

“It will be one of the challenges (for the next term) to start again to have a very proactive action for voluntary departures, part of which then benefits from reintegration assistance” in the country of origin, he said. for follow-up. “It seems important to me to ensure that people, once they no longer have a residence permit, return in the best conditions to their country of origin and to stabilize them by allowing them to develop an economic activity. », Added the Director General of Ofii.

In 2020, expulsions of illegal aliens had fallen by half (51.8%), with 9,111 “forced removals”, against 18,906 the previous year.

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