Leonarda Dibrani, 15, was detained when returning from a school trip, and then expelled from France, along with the rest of her family. Now, Socialist President Francois Hollande faces turmoil on French law, the Associate Press reported.
An uproar began this week when Leonarda was detained by police as she was getting off a school bus after a trip. She was detained and taken away in front of her classmates. The action on school grounds brought on a wave of critisism, according to the AP.
The Dibrani family's request for asylum was denied due to the fact the father lied on the asylum application when he said the entire family fled Kosovo, where they were persecuted for being Roma, or Gypsies, the AP reported. Leonarda and her siblings were born in Italy, but do not have Italian citizenship.
The deportation of the entire family has sparked a debate in France which is seen as the birthplace of "the right of man." President Hollande is dealing with a large amount of immigrants migrating into France as he "tries to present a softer image" of France's immigration policy, according to the AP.
According to a government report released Saturday, the police did nothing wrong and were following the law, but that "they didn't seem to realize the sensitivity of what they were doing," the AP reported.
Hollande said "local authorities would be told that such detentions cannot happen while children are in the care of their schools, whether inside the building, at the exit, on a bus or in after-school activities," according to the AP.
Hollande went on national television on Saturday to put the issue to rest and stood his ground on France's immigration policies. He said Leonarda, a 15-year-old girl, could come back to France alone, if she would like to finish school. Hollande said the family would have to stay behind, the AP reported.
Leonarda told reporters in Mitrovica, Kosovo, where the family is currently residing, that she would not go back to France without her parents and said Hollande "has no heart" and "no pity" for her family, according to the AP.
"We thought that Hollande was a just person to protect a family," said Leonarda's mother, Dzemila Dibrani. "To give him my daughter, that is not possible."
Recent polls show the majority of France's population does not think the Dibrani family should be allowed to return, but the case has threatened to destabilize the government, the AP reported.
The AP reported thousands of teenagers protested Leonarda's expulsion on Thursday and Friday. Students gathered again Saturday on the steps of the Opera house at Place de la Bastille and are calling for French law to be changed so minors who are in school cannot be expelled, and their families can remain, too.
