PARIS, July 1 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has rejected accusations and criticism alleging that he is insensitive to the plight of undocumented workers in France, saying that he had "a heart on the left like all human beings."

    "You, you see it as a human being. I am also human," said the head of state, who was speaking with Audrey Pulvar, a French journalist of Caribbean origin, during a lively debate on France 3television channel.

    "I have a heart, maybe not necessarily the same as the one you have," said Sarkozy, before adding: "In any case, it is at exactly the same place as yours, on the left, like all human beings."

    Sarkozy added: "I understand that this issue affects you, it affects me a lot too, perhaps more than you, because I have been tasked with resolving it."

    Nevertheless, the president reaffirmed his conviction that illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries of origin. "When you find someone who has no papers, he is supposed to be sent back home," said the head of state who argued that laws were to be upheld.

    "There is a law dealing with this issue," he said, adding that "if this law is cumbersome, we must change it. But as long as it is there, this law, we must apply it."

    "If we accept everyone to come into our country, we will end up destroying the social pact and indeed everything will explode," said the president.

    "Those who already have a job, and therefore an insertion, can be fully regularized," said Sarkozy. "Those who have no work, no home, no paper, it is a great misfortune," he said, adding: "So we will try to give them the chance to attain development in their country."