Underground network hides children facing deportation

A SECRET network of families across France has started hiding illegal immigrants and their children in a bid to save them from deportation.

The grassroots movement emerged after the centre-right government of Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, announced a crackdown on illegal immigration.

There are an estimated 400,000 so-called sans papiers - or without papers - in France. About 50,000 are believed to be children, most of whom are enrolled in the country's school system.

The government has given the children an amnesty to remain only until the end of this school year.

In a response reminiscent of the Second World War, when many French people hid Jewish children to prevent them being deported to Nazi death camps, many families and teachers are taking direct action.

They have vowed to hide the children in their homes, away from their parents, so they cannot be deported.

Under French law, it is illegal to deport children without their parents and vice-versa.

Amid highly publicised cases where police have gone into schools searching for children of illegal immigrants, the left-wing group Education sans Frontieres - or Education without Borders - has pledged to continue the fight, arranging for more families to hide children in danger of deportation as the end of term approaches.

Families who agree to hide children face a fine and possible prison sentence if caught, but they believe it is worth the risk.

"During the Second World War, people risked their lives to help and hide others - they were far braver than we are now," said one primary school teacher who is hiding boys aged seven and nine.

The children fled from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo with their mother five years ago. Their father is dead and their mother's request for asylum was refused by the authorities leaving the family at risk of deportation.

"Even though we face a prison sentence or fine for doing this, we sometimes have to disobey the law and stand up against what our government is doing to these people. We can't just slam the door and pretend they don't exist," the teacher added.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the hard line interior minister, reacted to widespread protests about the government's plans to deport children earlier this month by announcing that children who only spoke French and had no ties with their country of origin would be allowed to stay.

But human rights groups say that only applies to a small minority of the children facing deportation. It is believed that only 800 children would qualify for clemency, leaving tens of thousands of others living in fear of deportation.

Immigration has become a hot topic of debate between the centre-right and the opposition Socialists in the run-up to next year's presidential elections.

In the French Senate yesterday, MPs and senators from Socialist and Green parties held a ceremony of support for the children at risk, saying that the start of the school holidays must not turn into "a hunt for children".

However, a government spokeswoman said the children "were being used as political hostages" by left-wing groups.