Outrage after France lawmaker suggests deporting migrants to Atlantic islands
French politics have shifted to the right in recent months, with the government increasingly picking up far-right talking points such as security and immigration.
Algeria has refused to take back nationals France has ordered to leave, including a 37-year-old man who went on a stabbing rampage in the French city of Mulhouse in February, killing one person.
"I suggest dangerous foreigners under order to leave French territory be locked up in a detention centre in Saint Pierre and Miquelon," Laurent Wauquiez, the parliamentary leader for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party, said on Tuesday.
"They would have a choice: either go to Saint Pierre and Miquelon or return home," he told right-wing website JDnews.
READ MORE:
Saint Pierre et Miquelon: Why does France have two islands off the Canadian coast?
Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an archipelago of eight islands located just off the Canadian island of Newfoundland, has a population of less than 6,000 people.
It is one of several French overseas territories that span the globe.
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Wauquiez, who is vying for the presidency of the LR party against popular Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, said he hoped the island's climate would have a "deterrent effect".
"The average yearly temperature is 5C, there are 146 days of rain and snow. I think that quite rapidly, it will make everyone think," he told CNews television broadcaster.
Under French law, a prefect -- a local representative of the state -- can order a foreigner who does not have a residency permit or has newly arrived and is deemed a danger to public order to leave the country.
At the moment, they have 30 days to leave on their own, or they are detained for a maximum of 60 days and the French administration organises their deportation.
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Wauquiez said the detention period should be extended.
'Shameful'
He faced criticism from across the political spectrum.
Overseas Minister Manuel Valls, a centrist, rejected the idea.
"Forced exile is the method of a settler, not an elected lawmaker," he said.
France used to ship prisoners off to the penal colony of Cayenne, or "Devil's Island", in the overseas territory of French Guiana, but that ended in 1953.
"The Cayenne jail is long gone and so it should," Valls added.
Boris Vallaud, leader of the Socialists in parliament, said what he called Wauquiez's "Guantanamo-on-Sea" proposal was as "shameful" as it was "stupid".
The new US administration has sent undocumented migrants to the US military prison of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Even far-right parliamentary leader Marine Le Pen was against the idea.
"The place of people under obligation to leave French territory is in their country, certainly not in a French territory," said the three-time presidential candidate, who was sentenced over embezzlement and banned from running in the 2027 race last week.
Wauquiez said his idea had not been inspired by US President Donald Trump, but by Australia sending undocumented migrants to the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru.
Under a hardline policy introduced in 2012, Australia sent thousands of migrants attempting to reach the country by boat to "offshore processing" centres, including a detention centre on in Nauru.
The scheme was gradually scaled back following 14 detainee deaths, multiple suicide attempts, and at least six referrals to the International Criminal Court.
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