September Monday 13, 2010 - Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris. The police border doesn’t let in a young tourist from Malaysia. The decision by the police seems the right one: the foreigner doesn’t have 60 euros a day for his stay, a requirement according to the chief of the police station, and the letter by a French citizen taking responsability for his stay was just a private letter. Less than 4 hours after his landing in Paris the foreigner was sent back to Malaysia. An NGO at the airport in support of foreigners (ANAFE) could not do anything to help him: the unwelcome foreigner was already on his way to the plane when it tried to contact him.


Severe but fair use of the law? Not really! I have stated in a written document that I took full responsability of the stay of my friend in France (housing, financial support, medical insurance) and it was easy to check by the border police as I was waiting for him in the arrival hall. The police didn’t allow me neither to meet him nor to talk to him on the phone.


In fear of letting an illegal immigrant in, the French border police (PAF, police aux frontières) abuses its power and gives France a bad name.