The new immigration law of the French Government, which was presented as “balanced” and which has begun its parliamentary journey these days, has toughened its content. In the first week of debate in the Senate, which concluded this Friday, measures have been approved to facilitate the expulsion of foreigners who have committed crimes, do not respect the values ??of the Republic or pose a serious threat to the country. Furthermore, the only article that could satisfy the left and the immigrant associations has been decaffeinated: that of the regularization of undocumented people who work in jobs where there is hardly any labor.
The debate started on Monday. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had said that the project sought to “be good with the good and bad with the bad.” The original text contained measures to please the left and the right. However, day by day the content has been tweaked, making more concessions to the latter, who considered the text to be too lax. On Monday, for example, they voted in favor of withdrawing the State medical assistance device that the undocumented benefited from. Instead, there will be emergency medical help.
Expulsions are made easier, the asylum application is complicated and the conditions for family reunification are also toughened. The article that provided for the regularization of people in an illegal situation who work in sectors without labor such as hospitality or construction, has remained minimal.
Now, what has been voted on is that the prefects of each region be the ones to assess each case individually, evaluating not only the work that the immigrant performs, but also their integration and whether they respect the values ??of the Republic. The Republicans party, the Government’s key to moving the text forward in the Assembly, asked that it be eliminated. Also the extreme right. It was one of the few concessions to the left, which from the beginning has described the text as excessively restrictive.
One of the priority objectives is to facilitate the expulsions of foreigners who have committed crimes. To do this, the protections that some benefit from and that prevented them from being fired will be eliminated. This is the case of those who are under 13 years old when they arrive in French territory, for example.
For this reason, the jihadist of Chechen origin who stabbed a teacher a little over a month ago at a high school in the north of the country could not be expelled from France. Despite being booked for radicalization, he had arrived in France when he was less than 13 years old.
Those who have a final sentence of more than five years in prison will no longer benefit from that protection. Darmanin, who has been posting on Twitter (now “The French do not understand that someone who has committed a crime cannot be expelled,” the minister had denounced.
The residence permit will also be withdrawn from those who do not respect the values ??of the Republic. These, according to the text, are personal freedom, freedom of expression and conscience, equality between men and women, human dignity and respect for the symbols of the Republic.
Wearing “ostentatious religious clothing” or “spitting on the French flag in a patriotic ceremony” are some examples of non-respect for the aforementioned values, as Darmanin illustrated in the Senate.
Another controversial measure: until now, children born in France to foreign parents automatically obtain nationality upon reaching the age of majority. This right is eliminated and they will have to expressly request it from the age of 16 to 18. And those who have been sentenced to a sentence of more than six months in prison will not be able to do so.
Immigrant and anti-racism associations have written a letter to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, to criticize this “unknown restriction of rights” until now. “Access to French nationality favors immigration,” had defended Republican senator Valérie Boyer. The text ended the debate today in the Senate, where it will be voted next Tuesday. It will then go to the Assembly, which will begin processing it from December 11. The idea is that it will come into force at the beginning of next year.
