It was a little after 2 a.m. on Saturday, December 2, when members of the National Assembly’s Law Committee voted on a revised version of the “immigration” bill. “It’s a great satisfaction. The government will continue to listen to convince,” immediately reacted the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on X.
After a week of examination, the text, which will arrive in the Hemicycle from December 11, was adopted thanks to the votes of the presidential camp and LIOT deputies, and despite opposition from the left and the National Rally (RN ).
The presidential camp tried to take into account the demands of the left wing of Renaissance, without antagonizing the right too much so as not to compromise the chances of adoption.
The two Republican deputies (LR) present were divided. Mansour Kamardine (Mayotte), who notably had an amendment voted at the end of the session to toughen family reunification on his territory, supported the bill, unlike Annie Genevard (Doubs), who voted against. “The count is not there for us,” she reacted to Agence France-Presse, estimating that the text had “far too far in its fundamentals from the Senate version”.
State medical aid for undocumented immigrants restored
Among the most commented on measures, the deputies unsurprisingly reestablished State Medical Aid (AME), allowing the provision of care for undocumented immigrants. The Senate voted to replace it with emergency medical aid, drastically limiting the basket of care. The Law Commission has also removed the offense of illegal residence, as has the end of the automaticity of land law, decided by the senators.
Concerning the experimentation of a system for the regularization of undocumented immigrants in professions in tension, also emblematic, the presidential camp proposed “a compromise”. The Senate planned a procedure entirely in the hands of the prefect. The version adopted in committee at the Assembly regulates the power of the latter, who could oppose the issuance of the title in the event of a threat to public order, non-respect of the values of the Republic or polygamy.
The deputies returned to part of the senatorial tightening on family reunification, access to emergency accommodation, or even the conditions for triggering certain social benefits. But they also kept several on the need to benefit from regular resources to access family reunification, the conditions giving right to the “sick foreigner” title, or the requirement to learn the French language.
In committee, Gérald Darmanin did not fail to list to the LR deputies all the Senate additions retained in the text, emphasizing the measures aimed at facilitating expulsions and reducing the time taken to examine asylum applications. “You will have a lot of difficulty explaining that this is not what the French want,” he said.
Broad reform of the National Court of Asylum
On Friday, the deputies notably adopted the lifting of several “protection” locks, against the expulsion of foreigners in a legal situation when they have committed certain crimes and serious offenses, or against decisions requiring them to leave French territory ( OQTF).
They also restored access to emergency accommodation for illegal aliens, which the Senate wanted to limit to “exceptional circumstances”. An article specifying that those whose right to asylum can no longer benefit from it is, however, maintained.
They also adopted a broad reform of the National Court of Asylum (CNDA). The text aims to deconcentrate it through territorial chambers. To the great dismay of the left, it also establishes the principle of decisions by single judge, except for minors, collegiality being rather reserved for cases deemed complex.
The extension of forfeiture of nationality to dual nationals having committed homicide against a police officer, gendarme or any other person holding public authority has been removed.
“Duplicity” of the government, according to the socialists
The parliamentary left, united on this text, attacked at length the pledges given to the right. For the leader of the socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud, the government is showing “duplicity” by agreeing to review its regularization system. For Elsa Faucillon (Communist Party), the compromises with the Senate “serve the ‘myth of the air’”.
The RN vigorously criticized a text that was too weak in its eyes. On the LR side, the group’s position was partly weakened by the publication of a forum of seventeen deputies open to a vote on the text if it retained sufficient elements from the Senate. In committee, the group’s executives went on the offensive again, insisting on the “unraveling” of the senatorial version, in the words of the president of the LR group, Olivier Marleix. He brandishes the need for constitutional reform, which his group must defend in the Hemicycle on December 7.
Beyond certain voices on the right, Beauvau hopes to be able to count on the independent LIOT group, and more broadly on overseas deputies from other camps. The examination in session will also be revealing for Gérald Darmanin, who intends to achieve a victory without the government resorting to 49.3.