With a Moroccan killing a student.. France moves towards toughening stance against illegal immigration

Conservative French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau pledged on Wednesday to take new steps to combat illegal immigration following the arrest by Swiss authorities of a Moroccan citizen suspected of killing a 19-year-old university student and leaving her body in a forest in Paris.

A source familiar with the case indicated that the suspect is a 22-year-old Moroccan national, while prosecutors clarified that he had previously been convicted of rape and issued an order to leave France.

The student's assassination is expected to exacerbate political tension in France, where the new right-wing government intends to tighten immigration rules. Retailleau stated, "This is a heinous crime."

Retailleau, who took office on Monday succeeding Gérald Darmanin, had previously vowed to strengthen law and order, tighten immigration legislation, and facilitate the deportation of foreigners convicted of crimes.

He added, "As leaders, it is our responsibility to refuse to surrender to what seems inevitable and to develop our legal arsenal to protect the French." He continued, "If we need to amend laws, let's do it."

The student's body was discovered on Saturday in the Boulogne Forest west of Paris, near the Paris-Dauphine University where she was studying. Authorities have only revealed the victim's first name, Philippine.

A spokesperson for the Swiss Ministry of Justice told AFP that the Moroccan citizen was arrested on Tuesday in the Geneva canton in Switzerland, as the main suspect in the murder that occurred in Paris.

The spokesperson added, "The Federal Justice Office later issued an arrest warrant for his extradition based on an arrest request from France." The student was last seen at the university on Friday, and according to a security source, eyewitnesses reported seeing a man carrying an axe.

According to prosecutors, the man was convicted in 2021 of committing a rape in 2019 when he was a minor, and was released in June 2024 after serving his sentence. He was then placed in an administrative detention center, according to a source familiar with the case.

In early September, a judge ordered his release on condition that he regularly inform authorities of his whereabouts, but just before the student's murder, the suspect was placed on a wanted list for violating his release conditions.

The student's death sparked widespread anger in France, with politicians from the right and left calling for tougher measures. Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party (the largest party in parliament), wrote on the "X" platform on Tuesday evening: "Philippine's life was snatched away by a Moroccan immigrant who was subject to a deportation order."

He added that "our judicial system is lenient, our state is dysfunctional, and our leaders leave the French to coexist with human time bombs," continuing, "It's time for this government to act: our citizens are feeling extremely angry."

Former Socialist President François Hollande also weighed in, affirming that deportation orders should be executed "quickly." France regularly issues deportation orders, but only 7 percent of them are executed, compared to 30 percent across the European Union.

Public law expert Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche said that French authorities issue too many of these orders, adding, "We are witnessing an increase in the number of deportation orders issued against people whom we know from the start cannot return to their countries of origin or those they transited through."

Levant-Agencies