The unaccompanied minor immigrants in France not only cost the state huge amounts of money, they are also a major source of delinquency and crime, French philosopher and essayist Éric Zemmour said while speaking on French news channel CNews.
“Among the these minors, some 40,000 to 50,000 a year cost us [in France] billions [of euros], and feature an enormous delinquency. I never said they are all delinquents, all I said was that a great many of them are,” Zemmour said.
Éric #Zemmour : «C’est moi qui suis honni et poursuivi en justice. Je sais ce qu’est la responsabilité. Mais je dis et je maintiens que tous les #MineursIsolés doivent être renvoyés chez eux…» #JeSoutiensZemmour #FAI #Facealinfo pic.twitter.com/pt3RZVfJta
— ??Nicolas חי?? (@_samsonico_) October 1, 2020
“I am not making up anything: it is in all the papers, in all media, police keeps saying it and the Ministry of Interior says the same,” Zemmour said. “In the neighborhood I grew up, Goutte d’Or, residents tell me life has become untenable on account of these youngsters who steal and harass everyone.”
Goutte d’Or is a neighborhood in Paris’ 18th district and features a large proportion — 35 percent of people — of immigrant origin, mostly from North Africa and the sub-Saharan region.
“I continue to maintain that all of them should be returned home. I’m not saying all delinquents, but all unaccompanied minors, and I stick to this position,” Zemmour said. “The French government has a responsibility with regard to these delinquents (…) on account of the security threat they represent to France.”
He added that humanitarian considerations also justify his position: “For humanitarian, human reasons (…) when there is a child who is lost and without his parents, they must be sent back to their parents.”
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has also called for all unaccompanied minors to be deported from France to their home countries, saying they represent a security risk. Her demand comes shortly after a Pakistani migrant carried out a terrorist attack outside what he believed were the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week in Paris. The man — whose Pakistani father has praised his actions — lied about his name and age when he migrated to France in 2018. He is actually 25 years old instead of the 18 he told authorities.
The attack has only fueled the immigration debate in France. With Europe’s largest Muslim population, the country now has one out of every five newborns given Arab-Muslim names in a sign that the country is experiencing rapid demographic transformation.
Last week, Zemmour, who is Jewish, said on CNews, said that “immigration changes the makeup of a people. It is a crime against the European peoples, it will end in bloodshed.”
Zemmour is the author of “The French Suicide” and is known for his strong opposition against continued immigration to France. In a previous interview, he compared immigration in his country to a “demographic tsunami” and said he believes current immigration and integration policies have failed. He worked for the French channel RTL from 2010 to 2019.
