Sarkozy `Determined' to Enforce New Rules on Deporting Illegal Immigrants

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he is “determined” to enforce new security rules making it easier to deport illegal immigrants and strip violent criminals with foreign origins of their French citizenship.

Sarkozy, who started a security blitz with a July 30 speech in the Alpine city of Grenoble, “reasserted his determination to have all his decisions adopted” by the Parliament in the coming weeks, according to an e-mailed statement today by his office in Paris. The French president came under criticism last month for deporting Roma people from Romania and Bulgaria -- both members of the European Union.

French lawmakers will tomorrow begin debating a new national security bill dubbed LOPPSI 2 and will later this month discuss a proposal on “immigration, integration and citizenship.” The second law will “facilitate” deportations of illegal immigrants, “including those from the European Union, in case of a threat on public order, if there are no firm financial resources or if” EU rules on the freedom of movement are breached, according to the statement.

While citizens convicted of polygamy will face more severe financial sanctions, the government scrapped plans to strip them of their citizenship.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

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