Morocco has criticized European countries for exploiting “immigration for political gain” amid the renewed debate in France regarding the expulsion of irregular migrants.
The debate regained momentum after French police arrested a Moroccan man suspected of murdering a 19-year-old female student, known only as “Philippine,” in Paris.
Philippine disappeared on September 20, and her body was discovered by French authorities the next day, September 21, in a forest near the Boulogne port in Paris. The main suspect is a 22-year-old man born in Morocco who reportedly arrived in France from Spain in 2019, according to BFMTV.
The young man was previously implicated in a 2021 rape case in Taverny (Val-d’Oise), after his DNA matched with evidence taken from the crime scene.
At that time, he was under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), as reported by Jeune Afrique. After being sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2021, he was reportedly moved in June to an administrative detention center in Metz (Moselle), BFMTV stated.
On September 3, a judge authorized his release from the detention center but mandated regular check-ins with local authorities. The following day, Morocco sent a consular pass to the French authorities to facilitate the young man’s deportation. However, his deportation could not be executed immediately, and Morocco has since been accused of delaying the issuance of the necessary consular pass.
On September 24, the suspect was arrested in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to French judicial sources, Moroccan authorities did not respond to multiple requests from France to validate the consular pass. Morocco responded that the request was not made by the appropriate department in France, Jeune Afrique reported.
In a press conference in Rabat today with the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita responded that “Morocco is ready to repatriate any irregular migrant confirmed to be Moroccan and who has left Moroccan territory,” Jeune Afrique reported.
“Morocco is ready, but will the other party [deport illegal immigrants]?” he questioned, quipping that Rabat does not need “lessons” on combating illegal immigration.
Bourita noted that if immigrants fail to return, it is due to “obstacles set by the other party.”
He also criticized European politicians who “exploit immigration for political gain.”
France’s Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau stated in early October that he wished to extend France’s maximum duration of detention for irregular migrants and to condition France’s “visa policy on the issuance of consular passes.”
He asserted that his government is “too generous without receiving anything in return.” Retailleau stated that in 2023, France issued 238,750 visas to Moroccan citizens but received only “725 consular passes.”