The French Have Lost Patience, Urging Jail for Migrants Facing Deportation
There is near-universal agreement in France that authorities should detain migrants with deportation orders following a string of high-profile murders and rapes committed by foreign nationals who should have been removed from the country, but weren’t.
A CSA survey conducted for Le Journal du Dimanche has found that 86 percent of the French public would support the systematic incarceration of illegal migrants while they are waiting to be deported.
Broken down by political leanings, 94 percent of supporters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally were in favour of the measure, followed by 92 per cent of the centre-right Les Républicains, and 81 percent of Macronist Renaissance voters.
Unsurprisingly, supporters of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon were the least likely to support jailing illegals ahead of deportation at 63 percent.
The issue of OQTF “Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français” orders, which translates to an obligation to leave French territory, has become increasingly controversial over the failure of authorities to enforce removals promptly, while illegal migrants who have remained in the country are in many cases – and increasingly often – committing serious serious crimes.”
Last week, Jordy Goukara, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant from the Central African Republic, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping Claire Geronimi and another 19-year-old woman in November of 2023 in two upscale neighbourhoods of Paris. The rapes came even though Goukara had racked up 11 criminal convictions and had been subjected to three OQTF deportation orders, meaning that he should not have been in France at the time of the attacks.
“My attacker had three OQTFs under his belt, so I had trouble understanding why he was still on French soil. Being raped, and the fact that it was a man who had an OQTF, is a double whammy. It shouldn’t happen. The state is supposed to protect us as citizens,”
– Ms. Geronimi, remarked
Le monstre sous 3 OQTF qui a violé Claire Geronimi.
Et qui même durant son procès est insolent, violent.
« Parfois en amour on s’exprime mal » a t-il dit face á ses victimes.
Il a refusé les tests VIH après le viol, forçant les victimes á le faire.
Un monstre. pic.twitter.com/uVoetrXJ02
— Alice Cordier (@CordierAlice2) September 24, 2025
The deportation system was also called into question following the brutal murder of a 19-year-old student, Philippine Le Noir de Carlan, in Paris last year. The suspected killer, a 22-year-old migrant from Morocco, had previously been jailed for rape and had an OQTF removal order prior to the murder.
19-year-old Philippine Le Noir de Carlan, a brilliant student and scout leader, went for a walk in Paris during lunchtime.
In what should have been a safe part of the city, Philippine crossed paths with Taha Oualidat. This 22-year-old Moroccan was already convicted of rape and… pic.twitter.com/d8BifVcUxX
— Dries Van Langenhove (@DVanLangenhove) October 1, 2025
The French government has long struggled to implement OQTF removal orders.
Indeed, in 2022, 134,000 OQTF orders were issued; however, only 9,160 were actually fulfilled, resulting in a success rate of 6.9 percent.