Hatim B., a 32-year-old Moroccan national, was deported to Morocco on Thursday, April 23, at approximately 12:30 PM, ending nearly a decade of employment as a gardener for the Le Pen family. The expulsion was ordered by Alexandre Brugère, the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine, and carried out from an administrative detention center in Nanterre. The story, first reported by Le Parisien, has sent shockwaves through the French political landscape.
The man had been employed since 2017 by Jany Le Pen, the 93-year-old widow of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right Front National party who died in January 2025. Throughout the entirety of his employment, Hatim B. never possessed a valid residence permit in France, making him completely undocumented for the duration of his work with the family. This fact alone raises serious questions about employment verification practices within one of France's most politically influential households.
The situation carries an extraordinary level of irony that has not been lost on commentators and the French public. The Le Pen family represents the very epicenter of anti-immigration politics in France. Jean-Marie Le Pen built his career on fiery anti-immigrant rhetoric, and his daughter Marine Le Pen has made combating illegal immigration the cornerstone of her political platform. Yet for years, the family quietly employed an undocumented worker in their own home, a contradiction that strikes at the credibility of the dynasty's foundational political message.
Jany Le Pen reportedly visited Hatim B. at the administrative detention center in Nanterre before his deportation, with the meeting lasting approximately one hour. The family also retained a lawyer in an attempt to regularize his immigration status, but those efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The fact that the family sought legal intervention suggests a personal attachment to their long-serving employee that stands in sharp contrast to the political positions publicly championed by the Le Pen name.
Following the deportation, Jany Le Pen is now reportedly seeking legal counsel to contest the expulsion and explore avenues for Hatim B.'s potential return to France. The legal basis for such a challenge remains unclear, given that the man never held a residence permit during his time in the country. Immigration lawyers note that contesting a deportation after it has been carried out presents significant procedural hurdles.
The revelation has ignited fierce debate across French media and social platforms. Critics of the Le Pen political movement have seized upon the story as proof of hypocrisy at the highest levels of the anti-immigration right. Supporters of the family have largely remained silent or attempted to distance the political wing of the dynasty from the personal household decisions of Jany Le Pen. Regardless of political affiliation, the story lays bare the complex and often contradictory relationship France has with undocumented labor, even within the homes of those who most vocally oppose it.
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