In France, end of school year brings threat of deportation.

From Washington's other newspaper (via the ContraCostaTimes.com):
Children and their parents could be kicked out of the country after July 4; debate parallels that in the United States

There is one big difference, kiddies. The French are actually kicking their illegals out.

Eight-year-old Andrianina Ralison's favorite subject is math, his sport of choice is basketball, he loves library books about nature and animals. His second-grade teacher at La Faiencerie Elementary School in this southern Paris suburb describes him as one of the top achievers in her class.

Andrianina, a round-faced boy from Madagascar, is also an illegal immigrant. And under tough new immigration laws, Andrianina -- along with hundreds of other schoolchildren and their parents across France -- is scheduled to be deported to his native country the day after school ends July 4.

"Why don't they want us here?" Holiarisoa Ralison, 31, said her son asked the day she received the deportation order.

Because your parents broke the law, son. It's nothing personal.

Across much of Western Europe, countries fearful of losing their national identities and anxious over struggling economies are seeking new ways to stem explosive growth in immigrant populations. The debates in Europe echo many of those heard in the U.S. Congress.

For now, the political consensus in France is to crack down, and last fall -- as part of tougher new policies -- authorities began pulling immigrant children out of school to be deported with their families. But many teachers, classmates and parents rebelled. Teachers at a school in central France hid students from police, even at the risk of being fined thousands of dollars for helping illegal immigrants.

Other schools went on strike to protest the sudden evictions. Students and teachers staged street demonstrations. Local town halls run by Socialist officials who oppose the government's increasingly hard-line approach supported many of the families in their legal appeals to remain in the country.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, architect of the new assault on illegal immigration, relented and declared a temporary amnesty for families with children in school and agreed not to deport them until the end of the current school year.

That's more like it, France surrendering and all...

Now, with the last days of the school year approaching, teachers and other activists are renewing their campaigns to protect students.

"Kids, teachers and parents are angry with the situation," said Richard Moyon, founder of the Education Without Borders Network, an association of teachers that organizes protests as part of its efforts to assist youngsters threatened with deportation. "One of the roles of a teacher is to teach kids the ideals of the republic -- freedom and equality. How can teachers explain what freedom and equality are when you've got in front of your eyes this kind of example of children seeing their friends deported?"

Oh, I get it now. The rule of law must not be an ideal of the republic. BTW, what republic are those pesky Frenchies on now, anyway? Seventeenth? Eighteenth?

Following pressure from Moyon's group and sympathetic politicians, the French Interior Ministry on Wednesday issued new guidelines to the local governing authorities that decide whether to grant residency papers to illegal immigrants. Families may be given more favorable consideration if their children have spent at least a year in French schools, were born in France or arrived at a young age and speak French fluently.

Wow. That is still tougher than we are with our illegals.

The guidelines are advisory only; local authorities are not required to use them.

The French government estimates that illegal immigrants number between 200,000 and 400,000. Officials suggest that at least 50,000 of those are children; advocacy groups say the number of children could total 100,000.

400,00? You're worried about a lousy 400,000?

In the past two years, French authorities have stepped up raids on city streets and at subway stations in immigrant neighborhoods, pressured employers to stop hiring illegal workers and rejected larger numbers of applications from illegal immigrants seeking visas.

Deportations have increased by nearly 70 percent, from 11,692 in 2003 to 19,489 last year, according to the Interior Ministry.

Even with the new guidelines issued this week, the fate of the Ralison family remains uncertain.

"Even without papers, life here is 10 times better than in Madagascar," said Holiarisoa Ralison, sitting in the living room of the family's small apartment, where mother, father and two children share the same bedroom -- adults on a lower bunk bed, children in the upper.

Wow. Madagascar must be awful if France looks good in comparison.

In Madagascar, Holiarisoa Ralison was an office administrator for a construction company, making about $66 a month. Her husband made about $75 a month working in a pharmaceutical lab. In France, she said, she earns about $875 a month baby-sitting and cleaning houses while her husband brings home about $1,125 a month from his multiple jobs.

But the greatest motivation, she said, was for the children. At home, most youngsters dropped out of school by the time they were 10 or 11 years old, she said.

Now the family lives in daily fear of deportation. "Every time we hear a car stop, we think it's the police coming to get us," she said. "We don't sleep at night. If my husband is late from work, I start panicking."