“We'll discuss deportation of illegal immigrants to Algeria after the elections”: French Immigration Minister

France's new Immigration Minister, Eric Besson, said the French government seeks to sign an agreement with Algeria providing for the deportation of thousands of Algerians who live illegally in France to their homeland Algeria after it failed previously to convince the Algerian government on this vexed issue.

•  Eric Besson, who visited Mali last week where he discussed the possibility of promoting bilateral cooperation to combat illegal immigration, said: “Algeria is a very important partner for France. We hope to reach an agreement about illegal immigration after the April 9 presidential elections in Algeria”.
• France signed eight agreements with African countries to combat the illegal immigration, including Cape Verde, Senegal, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Tunisia, Morris Island and Burkina Faso, while it failed to reach an agreement with the states directly concerned with this phenomenon including Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya.
• The French authorities carried out a secret and comprehensive census of illegal immigrants including Algerians and Moroccans in preparation for deporting them to their respective homelands.