Why was the author of the Arras attack not deported even though he was in an irregular situation?
WHY was Mohammed M., the author of the terrorist attack committed at the Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), Friday October 13, not expelled before his time at the act while he was in an irregular situation? A week after the death of Dominique Bernard, literature professor at the establishment, the question arises. Aged around twenty, Mohammed M., originally from the Russian Caucasus and arrived in France in 2008, comes from a family known to the police for radicalization. His father was administratively expelled from French soil in 2018 and his older brother convicted in April 2023 for “terrorist criminal association”. He has been on S file since July 30, 2023. “An S file is only an administrative and not judicial status”, recalls Jean-Louis Thiériot, LR deputy and vice-president of the national defense and armed forces committee. in the lower house. In fact, it cannot alone motivate the arrest or expulsion of the person concerned. »
The day before his act, the young Caucasian had also been the subject of an inspection by the DGSI. “We don’t put a person under lock and key just because they are suspicious. Arresting someone preventively – administrative internment – would result in a French-style Guantanamo. The honor of democracies is not to do anything,” continues the MP.
A future immigration law
Last weekend, during a press briefing following the Arras attack, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, recalled that the alleged perpetrator of the attack could not be expelled from the fact of his arrival in France before the age of 13. This is in fact the purpose of article L631-3 of the code of entry and stay of foreigners.
Exceptions exist, however, according to the law, in the event of “behavior likely to harm the fundamental interests of the State or linked to terrorist activities”. Which was not the case, before October 13, of Mohammed M. Faced with criticism from the opposition, Gérald Darmanin is putting forward his immigration bill, which the Senate will debate in the coming weeks.
A specific provision would make it possible to extend the conditions of expulsion to any serious threat to public order. Even for adult illegal immigrants who arrived in the country before the age of 13.
