Author Topic: Sarkozy "Silently" softens his stand on illegal workers' visas  (Read 1473 times)

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Offline jtyangel

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Sarkozy "Silently" softens his stand on illegal workers' visas
« on: January 22, 2008, 06:26:39 AM »
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a8UWPwD5zB.U&refer=exclusive

Quote
an. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Koutoubo Gassama spent a week in a Strasbourg detention center in October waiting to be expelled to Senegal as part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's clampdown on illegal immigrants. Instead, the 27-year-old cook was granted permission to stay on a temporary work visa.

Gassama, who works at a hotel in a snowy mountain pass in eastern France, benefited from a little-publicized amendment to the immigration law that last year grabbed headlines for proposing DNA tests for foreigners wanting to join family members. His case may signal a milder turn in Sarkozy's law-and- order immigration policy.

*snip*


Sarkozy, 52, wooed voters from Jean-Marie Le Pen's anti- immigration party in last year's presidential election by calling for systematic expulsions of illegal immigrants and a more selective policy for awarding visas based on skills rather than family ties. He repeated his tough line in a Jan. 8 New Year's speech without mentioning the new alternative.

It doesn't seem unreasonable, but it is worded as though it goes against the platform that he ran on and even what he discussed in his recent speech.