Many French seek to block deportations

By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 19, 12:30 PM ET

PARIS - If authorities try to send 7-year-old illegal immigrant Ikram Belhout back to Algeria, they'll have to get through Francine Le Cadre first. The 73-year-old retired social worker is among a swelling corps of volunteers resisting government efforts to step up deportations of immigrant families with children — including by hiding illegals from police if needed.

"This is resistance," said Le Cadre, recalling how her father had been deported to Germany in World War II. "Sometimes you have to do illegal things against the decisions your country takes."

Polls suggest illegal immigration is a top concern ahead of next year's presidential and legislative elections, with many in France fearing that immigrants poach jobs, soak up rich state welfare payments and commit crimes.

But the issue grows more nuanced when it comes to children who could be yanked out of school and sent abroad — at times to countries they have never seen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060619/ap_on_re_eu/france_sheltering_illegals_lh1;_ylt=Au.tsp8_mNTe9uUVWHJ2YUZWbBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

so even children born there area subject to deportation. No so called anchor babies.

I've been told that the US is one of the few countries that does grant citizenship by birth location. Anyone have good information on that?

14th. Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

when a sizeable part of the us population was made up of immigrants not part of the original colonies

also a part of it was that the newly freed slaves were NOT citizens till this Amendment was passed, residents would have been the proper word.

what part of the 14th amendment was going to restrict immigration? Or make it harder for new immigrants to become citizens?

non-citizen residents was NOT exactly perferable in a democracy of any sort. Remember, up until this time, many states had their own laws as to what constituted citizenship. Plus, over a third of the population of the South at the time were slaves.

the international norms are.

For example, Ireland had a born into citizenship law similar to the US, however, recently, since joining the EU, they changed that law to be more strict. The reason isn't so much because of illegal immigration, but rather other Europeans moving in from other EU nations, remember, they have an "open borders" policy with ALL other EU nations now. This actually makes sense, especially from a local point of view. Also, many nations allow resident aliens to vote in SOME elections, the US doesn't at all. Usually non-citizens in such nations can only vote in local elections after meeting a minimum residency requirement within that jurisdiction. Other countries are even more complex, the European Union, as an example, has about 4 levels of elections, local, regional/provincial, national, and supranational. A non-Irish citizen, who is an EU citizen, could vote for a city alderman, and a EU representative, maybe even vote on the county level, but not on the national level, they couldn't vote for President. This can be confusing, to say the least.

they apply "jus soli" the right of soil".

Specific national legislation
Jus soli is common in countries in the Americas, that wanted to develop and increase their own citizenry. Some countries that observe jus soli:

Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Jamaica
Mexico
United States (There are some limitations concerning the children of foreign diplomats. See Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution)

Modification of Jus soli

In a number of countries, the automatic application of jus soli has been modified to impose some additional requirements for children of foreign parents, such as the parent being a permanent resident or having lived in the country for a period of time. Jus soli has been modified in the following countries:

United Kingdom on 1 January 1983
Australia on 20 August 1996
Republic of Ireland on 1 January 2005
New Zealand on 1 January 2006
France also operates a modified form of jus soli
German nationality law was changed on 1 January 2000 to introduce a modified concept of Jus soli. Prior to that date, German nationality law was based entirely on Jus sanguinis

note that in the depicted case, the child isn't born in France. France has a big problem with Haitians moving to Guadeloupe and Martinique, Surinamis moving to French Guyana and Comorians moving to Mayotte or Reunion and "making babies there". Those are not "deportable" by definition.

The problem above has to do with illegal immigrants taking with them children born outside Europe.

All this doesn't apply if the family or the person is a legal resident in another state of the Union.

This wave of roundups and deportations is unfortunately not without precedent in France over the past 15 or 20 years. The cause is always the same: vicious cruel policies towards the cowering immigrant worker (who cannot vote) in order to pick up the vote of the xenophobic extreme right.