Speaking a day after he deported an Algerian imam for saying Islam let husbands beat adulterous wives, Villepin urged the country’s prefects Thursday to expel any foreign preacher who advocated violence, hate, racism or abuses of human rights.
Only about 10 percent of imams in France are citizens and about half of all imams in the country speak French, experts say.
Most are imported from Arab countries, where some have been trained in radical Islamist views that clash with France’s secular laws.