Immigration: When babies get involved

Immigration policy Nicolas Sarkozy and his minister, Brice Hortefeux, is pointing the finger. Two cases of expulsion involving infants are questioning their methods, Tuesday. One concerns the decision by the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine, 30 September 2008, to end the residence permit of a Cameroonian, Victorine Dikobo because of the death of her baby, born in France. Arrived illegally in France in 2001, this young woman had finally won the right to reside in the territory after having a child with a Frenchman in January 2004. The infant died three months later a "germ staphylococcus." She "received an invitation from the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine to leave," she told the press Tuesday. "My life has collapsed." Given the scale and emotional media that took the case, the Minister of Immigration, Integration and National Identity flew to the rescue of the young woman in the afternoon. "Except particular human situation" While recalling that "every illegal alien had intended to be renewed in its country of origin," Brice Hortefeux said on RTL that the rule contained an exception: cases of "particular human situation." In this case, "no element and obviously not the death of the child four years ago-could not justify the decision by the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine," he said. He therefore asked to repair this mistake. Regularly criticized by the Education Without Borders Network (RESF) and other organizations defending human rights, Brice Hortefeux has often had to clarify its policy. Last April, he published an article in Le Monde in which he correctly recalled that the dimensions "health, social, family or economic" should be involved in evaluation, case by case, expulsion. "When I have personal knowledge of malfunctions, I corrected, he had defended. On 18 January, I called and corrected the situation of a Turkish woman patient aged 89 years. Last week, Similarly, I asked a woman from Benin, widow of a Frenchman, has a residence permit. " A baby in "custody" for nine hours Still, many procedures are regarded as unfair and inhumane. In a decision dated October 20 which Reuters obtained a copy, the National Commission of Ethics of Security (NSDC) has called for disciplinary proceedings against the gendarmes who had detained at the police for nearly nine hours a Moldavian illegal Her husband ... and their baby three weeks. The facts, dating back to October 2007, is based neither on 'custody, or (on) an identity check in view of its duration. " The measure could "that constitute arbitrary detention of disciplinary reasons," said the CNDS. Especially since the matter does not end there. The couple and their child were then placed in detention for two days. An "inhuman and degrading treatment under the conditions of life imposed and the great moral and psychological suffering," denounced the Commission. "Since minors can not be expelled under French law, they can be neither an order to leave French territory, or a prefectural order of detention they have no legal status in detention, "she concludes. The couple has been a status allowing them to stay on French soil regularly. France appears to have much progress to make on the right of immigrants ...