Immigration Law: Macron Publishes Strict Implementation Texts

On the eve of French President Emmanuel Macron accepting the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government, after losing in the prior legislative elections that took place earlier this month, this government published six (06) new immigration implementation decrees, which include strict measures against immigrants.

The former French Interior Minister, Gérald Moussa Darmanin, posted on his “X” account (formerly Twitter), in which he said: “This morning (Tuesday, July 16, 2024), six (6) new decrees were published to implement the “Immigration Law. This comes in addition to the stringent measures already in place since its adoption on January 28, 2024. At least 2,500 foreign offenders were deported in the first half of 2024, representing an increase of 28%”.

The government of Gabriel Attal, who resigned, took this step, which came in the overtime, aiming to block the path to the new government, which is supposed to be from the leftist movement under the name “New National Front,” as it is the winner of the legislative elections held at the beginning of July.

The immigration law, which was approved on January 28, was met with strong opposition from the left, which forced the government of French President Emmanuel Macron to ally with the far right to pass this law, at a time when the party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) pledged to drop the controversial immigration law.

The Immigration Law addressed many sensitive issues affecting immigrants, including Algerians, who are considered the most present on French soil, such as those related to the deportation of what it called “delinquents”, social benefits, and regularizing the status of illegal immigrants, as well as determining the proportion of immigrants, and procedures for obtaining the French citizenship, residence for study, as well as health-related state subsidies.

During the discussions and after the passage of the controversial law, the leftist LFI party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, pledged to drop this law and had the appropriate opportunity to respond to the government of Gabriel Attal, supported by the French president at the time, after the victory of the bloc to which it belongs in the snap legislative elections.

Among the points included in the amended immigration law, which greatly harmed Algerian immigrants, were those that set the conditions for enjoying social benefits, such as the family grant, the housing grant, and other benefits, as they required immigrants to legally reside in French territory for a year, which was not proposed before.

It is known that many Algerian immigrants who have reached the stage of retirement prefer to move to their country to settle with their families after decades of difficult separation, and the new measures have deprived them of the rights that are considered normal given the sacrifices they made to France throughout their work there.

The new procedures also included additional complications that targeted illegal immigrants who were looking to regularize their status and continue working for France.

What is shocking about the matter is that even those who are not involved in legal violations have had their life complicated because they were working secretly, for French companies, in hard professions abandoned by the French. Now they are faced with the necessity of having three years of their illegal residency and proving that they have been working for twelve months during the last two years of their presence on French soil.