Parliament voted on Wednesday January 12 for the reappointment of the director general of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii), Didier Leschi, for a new mandate at the head of this administration, whose major challenge will be “
Integration
” of migrants and refugees.
Read also Didier Leschi extended as interim head of the Immigration Office
With 24 favorable opinions and one abstention, the National Assembly - followed by the Senate - announced in a press release that it had validated the nomination proposal of President Emmanuel Macron for a new three-year term for Prefect Didier Leschi , who has headed the Office since 2015. "
We are focusing too much on first-time reception when the major problem we have is to continue to support (...) towards employment and housing
", a exposed during a hearing at the National Assembly on Wednesday morning the boss of Ofii, who had been acting as his own since January 1.
Managing Director since 2015
France "
is a country of immigration for a long time, there have never been as many immigrants in this country as today
", he continued before the deputies. "
In this immigration, the difficulty that we have is different from the main European partners, since three quarters of our immigration comes from the countries of the South (note: a higher proportion than that of other countries), with difficulties of integration in employment, in relation to language, which does not facilitate integration
”. Former prefect delegate for equal opportunities in Seine-Saint-Denis, Didier Leschi, 62, took over the migration crisis of 2015 as head of this body under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior.
The Ofii oversees almost all aspects of immigration, from the reception of asylum seekers to integration (in particular through French courses), including the management of regular immigration procedures and assistance. the “
voluntary
” returns
of migrants.
On this last point, Didier Leschi announced that around 5,000 illegal aliens benefited in 2021 from a “
voluntary return
” procedure to their country of origin, in return for financial compensation, in a “
difficult
” context for them .
forced evictions.
To read also Didier Leschi: "
The situation in Calais can only satisfy the smugglers
"
At the end of October 2021, Didier Leschi was mandated by the government for a mediation mission in Calais, where several activists observed a hunger strike for more than a month to demand a moratorium on the almost daily dismantling of camps and to denounce the "
inhuman
" treatment reserved for exiles on the northern coast.
"
We underestimate the effort of the State in Calais
", he insisted during his hearing, recalling that the authorities spend "
on average two million euros per month
" for the reception of migrants .
.
