Moroccan Father Deported After 24 Years in France

Doha – A 46-year-old Moroccan man, who lived legally in France for 24 years, was expelled to Morocco under France’s new immigration law, AFP reported Friday.

The man, Hassan Youssefi, who arrived in France at age 21 and had “always maintained legal residency status,” was deported on February 21 without being allowed to bid farewell to his family or collect personal belongings, according to his lawyer Anne-Sophie Mang.

He lived with his French partner for over fifteen years and their 13-year-old twins in Anchenoncourt-et-Chazel, where the family owned a house.

Despite his long-term residency and establishing his own metal recycling business in 2022, he was expelled based on the recently enacted Darmanin immigration law.

“He was expelled to Morocco in inhumane conditions, tied up, wearing a helmet,” Mang stated.

The Haute-Saône prefecture justified the December 2024 expulsion order based on his criminal record, citing “13 convictions between 2005 and 2023 totaling more than six years of imprisonment.”

Mang challenged the decision in a March 4 letter to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, arguing her client “is neither a terrorist, nor a rapist, nor a murderer.”

The lawyer stressed that while he had been convicted of offenses such as theft and driving under the influence of drugs, he had “paid his debt to society, serving prison time when required and paying all fines.”

“This is someone who spent more than two decades building a life in France. Today, a family’s life has been destroyed, and he has no assurance of ever seeing his partner or children again,” she wrote.

The expulsion was executed under the January 2024 immigration law — officially named Contrôler l’immigration et améliorer l’intégration (CIAI) — which simplifies deportations of foreign nationals with criminal histories

The prefecture maintained that “multiple convictions and prison stays are antithetical to integration in society.”

This case emerges as France and Morocco strengthen their judicial cooperation. On March 10, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin and Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Ouahbi signed a joint declaration in Rabat focusing on counterterrorism and organized crime cooperation.

Meanwhile, France faces challenges with Algeria over similar immigration matters. Paris is preparing to send Algiers a list of “several dozen” individuals for expulsion.

Earlier this month, Retailleau announced that France had compiled a list of “several hundred” Algerian nationals with “dangerous profiles” for potential deportation. He described the move as being part of a “graduated response” strategy amid escalating diplomatic tensions.

Relations between Paris and Algiers have deteriorated significantly following France’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in July 2024.

Catherine Gueth, the expelled man’s partner, described the situation as “an injustice in the country of human rights.” Their children, Maëlys and Enzo, were at school when their father was deported.

After being taken by the Jussey gendarmerie to the Metz detention center on February 20, he was flown from Orly airport to Morocco the next day. Gueth maintains phone contact with her partner, who arrived in Morocco without connections or financial resources.