France is once again cracking down on foreign nationals, saying that there will be a targeted reduction in the number of visas granted to nationals from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

It comes amid a diplomatic dispute with the Maghreb countries over what France calls “illegal immigrants” on its soil. Paris is once again using racist and Islamophobic profiling to justify this restriction.

Its Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said during his visit to the three African countries last year, presented a list of 230 foreigners that France wishes to expel. He claimed that they were “illegal” nationals and are also suspected of “radicalization.”

But Algeria denounced this rhetoric, saying that the list includes names of citizens born in France, but of Algerian origin, insisting it is not an issue of illegal migration.

[Picture: AFP]