France’s Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, has asked French security services to deport 231 irregular migrants, including nine Moroccans, because of their “extremist beliefs.”
French media reported Darmanin’s decision on Sunday, two days after the Paris decapitation attack.
On October 16, an 18-year-old Russian refugee from Chechnya beheaded a teacher in a suburb of Paris. French police shot the suspect dead a few moments after the incident after he threatened them with a knife.
The victim of the attack was 47-year-old Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher who reportedly showed his students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson on freedom of speech. French authorities consider the case to be an “Islamist attack” and have opened a terror probe.
According to French media, Friday’s attack pushed Darmanin to accelerate the deportation plan, which was initially scheduled for a later date.
Citing sources close to the Ministry of the Interior, France Info reported that 180 of the migrants to be deported are currently in prison, while 51 will soon be arrested.
The list of migrants France intends to deport includes nine Moroccans.
According to local media, France’s minister of the interior discussed his intention to deport the Moroccan migrants with Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, and Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, during his recent visit to the country.
Darmanin arrived in Morocco on October 15. His agenda included meeting with top Moroccan officials to discuss cooperation between Morocco and France, particularly in the field of security.
The French minister’s visit was cut short, however, due to the Paris attack. Darmanin canceled a meeting with Morocco’s Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Taoufiq, to return to France.
