Marrakech – A Moroccan mother of six living in Vesoul, in France’s Haute-Saône department, will not be deported immediately after the prefect suspended her removal order this week, pending a final court ruling.
Nisrine Driouich, 40, had been ordered to leave French territory by Sunday, August 23. On Wednesday, August 19, the prefect of Haute-Saône granted her a temporary reprieve from deportation, choosing to suspend the expulsion on the grounds that her legal options had not yet been exhausted.
Driouich arrived in France irregularly in 2021 with four children to join her husband, Abdemassad Driouich, who holds a residence permit and works at the Stellantis plant in Vesoul. The couple later had two more children in France, a three-year-old girl and a boy of 21 months. Their six children range in age from 21 months to 17 years.
The prefecture refused her a residence permit in April 2025. She was placed under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) on June 5, 2025, and an assignment to residence issued on July 21, 2026 required her to report to the Vesoul police station four times a week.
On August 9, while checking in at the station, she learned that the prefecture had ordered the removal carried out. She was taken to the administrative detention center in Metz. A flight to Morocco was scheduled for the next day, but she fell ill on the way to the airport and could not board.
A judge of liberties and detention then annulled her detention, ruling that the removal did not respect “the best interest of the child,” her 21-month-old, who is still breastfed. The prefect appealed that decision. Barely released, Driouich received a fresh OQTF on August 15, setting the August 23 deadline that Wednesday’s suspension has now put on hold.
Her regularization has stalled over a single document. The permit was refused because she cannot produce a pay slip. According to France 3 ICI, employers are prepared to hire her but are waiting for her to be regularized before offering a contract.
Driouich had asked the administrative tribunal of Besançon to overturn the permit refusal and the removal order. The tribunal rejected the request, and she appealed to the administrative court of appeal in Nancy. A videoconference hearing took place on the afternoon of August 18, with a decision expected in the coming days. The prefect’s suspension holds until that court rules.
Speaking to France 3 ICI before the suspension, Driouich described her fear of separation. “I’m waiting for August 23. If I can stay with my children, it’s fine. If I can’t stay with my children after the 23rd, I would rather die, because it’s not easy for me to leave my children,” she told the outlet, adding, “We need nothing, just to let me live with my children.”
Her husband addressed the same appeal to the prefect, asking him to “help my wife and my children.” He described his own bind: he has just signed a permanent contract that starts Monday and requires travel from Monday to Friday, leaving no one to care for the children. “I can’t leave my children,” he told France 3 ICI.
The children have been marked by the ordeal. A pediatrician’s certificate documents the traumatic stress they suffer, and they panic whenever the doorbell rings, fearing police have returned for their mother. They remain settled locally, with one daughter recently earning a diploma from the Vesoul gymnastics club and the eldest facing a decisive year at the Belin high school.
The case drew local support. The Alliance pour l’émancipation sociale, joined by the CGT 70 union, called for a rally outside the Vesoul prefecture on August 15 to demand her release and regularization.
Read also: Moroccan Father Deported After 24 Years in France
