France reassesses its immigration policy after the Mulhouse attack
France is set to review its immigration control policy following the deadly Islamist attack that occurred this Saturday in Mulhouse, carried out by an Algerian national in an irregular situation and flagged for terrorism. The attack claimed the life of a 69-year-old Portuguese man, and three police officers were injured. The criminal, a 37-year-old Algerian named Brahim A., already had a concerning criminal record. Although he was incarcerated for promoting terrorism following the Hamas attacks in Israel in October 2023, he was not expelled despite multiple attempts by French authorities.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced that Prime Minister François Bayrou has convened an “immigration control committee” for Wednesday. This intergovernmental committee will present detailed reports on the difficulties France faces in expelling foreigners, particularly those from countries where expulsions are especially complicated.
French authorities are particularly at odds with Algeria, the country of origin of the attacker. After being sentenced to prison, he was placed in a detention center pending expulsion, but Algeria consistently refused to accept him, despite ten official requests made by France. He was eventually released under judicial control before carrying out his attack.
The incident has exacerbated tensions between France and Algeria. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, has called for the establishment of a “relationship of strength” with Algiers, suggesting, among other things, the denunciation of a bilateral agreement from 1968, which grants significant advantages to Algerians for traveling to France without a visa and obtaining long-term residence permits.
However, Jean-Noël Barrot defended a diplomatic approach, emphasizing that unilateral actions had not yielded satisfactory results in the past. In 2020-2021, France toughened its visa policy toward Algeria, but this only allowed for the expulsion of 800 Algerians. It was only after the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement in 2022 that this number tripled, showing that diplomatic cooperation was more effective than confrontation.
The political situation between the two countries has also evolved, particularly since French President Emmanuel Macron took a stance in favor of Morocco regarding the issue of the Sahara. This stance angered Algeria, which withdrew its ambassador to Paris and intensified its distancing gestures, contributing to a diplomatic crisis. One of the symbols of this crisis was the imprisonment of Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who openly criticized the Algiers regime and was jailed after his return to Algeria.
The Mulhouse attack has not only reignited the immigration debate but has also highlighted the difficulties in Franco-Algerian relations. In this context, France must balance the need to strengthen its internal security while managing delicate diplomacy. This reassessment of its immigration policy could mark a turning point both in security and diplomatic realms in response to growing internal and external challenges.
The issue of immigration, which strikes at the heart of French concerns, has thus become a battleground between the values of the Republic and geopolitical realities, with the Mulhouse attack serving as a catalyst for France to rethink its expulsion and international cooperation strategies.