Brice Hortefeux
| Brice Hortefeux | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of the Interior | |
|
In office 23 June 2009 – 27 February 2011 |
|
| Prime Minister | François Fillon |
| Preceded by | Michèle Alliot-Marie |
| Succeeded by | Claude Guéant |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 May 1958 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Political party | Union for a Popular Movement (2002–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Rally for the Republic (Before 2002) |
| Alma mater |
Paris West University Nanterre La Défense Paris Institute of Political Science |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Brice Hortefeux (born 11 May 1958) is a conservative French politician. He was Minister of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Territorial collectivities. He was previously Minister for Labour, Labour Relations, the Family, Solidarity and Urban Affairs and Minister-Delegate for Local Government at the Ministry of the Interior and was a Member of the European Parliament.
Hortefeux was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine but was raised in Auvergne. He is one of the most loyal political allies, and personal friend, of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. He is the godfather of one of Nicolas Sarkozy's sons.
On 18 May 2007, he was appointed as the first Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Cooperative Development in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. As such he has boosted the numbers of illegal immigrants forcibly repatriated from France, extended the network of detention centres (established also outside the larger conurbations in smaller cities such as Blois) and modified the rights of individuals and organizations which visit them.
He is in favor of controls on immigration. He was the promoter of a law that toughens conditions of political asylum in France. He believes that France has a right to expel or welcome immigrants on a discretionary basis, citing as evidence the high unemployment and criminality rates of foreigners. He also points to the geographical concentration of foreigners in a small amount of towns as evidence that they are not integrated in the country. As he declared in the newspaper Le Parisien on the 8 November 2007: "France has the right to choose which immigrants it can accommodate... Let's muster the courage to face our problems! Do you find it normal that 60% of immigrants are concentrated in only 3 of our 22 regions? That the unemployment rate of these people is 22% and that their children are dropping out of school? No, we will not accept this.".
On M6's TV show Capital, when asked if there were illegal immigrants in France, he replied: "If you dream of a country where there are only honest and clean citizens... In reality, it's a constant struggle."
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