France Weighs Immigration Bill

Washington Post: The French government introduced tough new immigration legislation Tuesday that would make it easier to expel illegal residents and strip recently naturalized citizens of their French passports. The bill would translate into law a July 30 announcement by President Nicolas Sarkozy that in a bid to curb crime, he had authorized a crackdown on illegal immigrants, in particular Roma from Eastern Europe, who officials say commit up to 20 percent of the robberies in the Paris region. Since then, about 1,000 Roma, or Gypsy, immigrants have been shipped back to Bulgaria and Romania, and about half of their estimated 150 unauthorized camps across the country have been dismantled. Sarkozy's campaign, denounced as demagoguery by his opponents, reflects swelling concern in West European countries over large numbers of immigrants pouring in to seek work, political freedom and generous social services. Several governments have taken new steps to limit the flow, and anti-immigrant political parties scored electoral gains this year even in such normally liberal bastions as Sweden and the Netherlands.