French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has called for a three-year pause on immigration, arguing that the country has reached its “limit” due to the mass influx of foreigners over the past few decades.
Darmanin, a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party who has served in multiple cabinet roles, including as Interior Minister, the post responsible for policing France’s borders, has cast doubt on the ability of the country to accept any more migrants while remaining a cohesive society, or at least his political faction’s ability to survive public outcry if no action is taken.
Speaking to Le Journal du Dimanche, the Justice Minister said he rejects the notion that race prevents some migrants from assimilating; however, he said that some migrants lack a “respect for the values” of the nation, thereby posing problems for integration. Suggesting that one impediment to cohesion was the scale of immigration, Darmanin called for a complete halt to further immigration.
“We have reached the limit of our capacities for integration and assimilation. So I now have a very strong conviction: we must put an end to immigration as it is today. This is why I am proposing a three-year moratorium on legal immigration,” he said.
“Let’s put a stop to immigration, let’s expel those who must be expelled by conditioning visas on the acceptance of OQTFs (deportation orders), and let’s work today on the assimilation of those who are on the national territory,” Darmanin added.
In addition to a three-year pause on migration, the Justice Minsiter called for reforms to the immigration system, including eliminating the automatic right of family reunification, or chain migration, in which one immigrant can bring multiple family members to the country on the back of a single visa. Darmanin said the government should also establish “restrictive quotas” on the number of visas issued per year, the skills sought, and the regions represented.
Darmanin is widely expected to be a candidate in next year’s presidential elections to replace Macron; however, he has yet to confirm his intentions to throw his hat in the ring. The cabinet minister has previously argued that it is essential for a “single candidacy “from the right and the centre, and perhaps even from the Republican left,” to ensure that the radical left is prevented from taking power.
Perhaps casting himself in the role of the “Republican left” to which various factions could rally around, Darmanin said that the issues of immigration are not only caused by the government, but also by “wild capitalism” in which big businesses use the importation of cheap foreign labour to depress wages.
He also noted that “many difficult jobs are now reserved for foreign workers”, who he said are “particularly poorly paid and exploited by unscrupulous bosses.”
Although France is officially a “colour blind” society and therefore does not keep detailed census information on race and heritage, a study this month from the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) found that one in three people in the country were either migrants or the descendants of migrants as of 2020.
The rapidly changing demographics are likely to be a major issue in the upcoming presidential race, with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella of the populist Rassemblement National party likely to make it central to their campaign. Centre-right candidates like Les Républicains Senator Bruno Retailleau are also likely to focus heavily on the issue.
However, the number of migrants already in the country is expected to have a major impact on the election, with a survey from Ifop this month finding that four in ten voters with two non-European heritage parents plan to vote for far-left radical Jean-Luc Mélenchon in next year’s elections. This jumps to 51 per cent of Muslims in the country.
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