As part of a strategy for re-election, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Interior Minister Claude Gueant are bragging about the high number of immigrant workers deported in 2011 due to the policies of their administration. France expelled more immigrants last year than ever before.
French authorities deemed a record 32,912 foreign workers to be “illegal” in 2011, an increase of 17.5 percent since 2010. The government wants to increase the amount to 35,000 this year, according to Gueant. The conservative Sarkozy administration also wants to limit the flow of legal immigration. Gueant has made the xenophobic and racist claim that the fabric of French society is being threatened by Muslim immigrants who refuse to “assimilate” into French culture.
Most immigrant workers come from former French colonies in North Africa that were impoverished by imperialism. Bragging about destroying the lives of immigrants, and targeting migrant workers for political gain, is a despicable attempt to divide the working class.
