Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau won the case. The government announced a new immigration law on Sunday, October 13, the review of which could begin as soon as possible. “early 2025” in Parliament, just one year after the previous text on the issue that had fractured the majority in the National Assembly.
“There will be a need for a new law”in particular to allow “the extension” of “administrative detention” illegal aliens considered dangerous, said on BFM-TV the Government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon.
One of the options envisaged is to increase the maximum period of detention from 90 to 210 days, which is currently only possible in relation to terrorist offences. “We don’t stop thinking about other agreements”added the spokesman, judging that there should be no “There is no taboo when it comes to protecting the French”. The executive wants this text to reach Parliament “early 2025”just one year after the enactment of the last immigration law.
At the beginning of October, Prime Minister Michel Barnier seemed to rule out the possibility of a new text in such a short time. “We just legislated”, “We will apply the rules”There will be “Progress possible but within the framework of current legislation”declared on France 2.
But the pressure was probably too much. Abroad, with the National Rally, which threatened to trigger government censorship if a new bill was not presented. Internally, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, has taken a very tough stance on the matter.
“Legislative Riders”
The previous law, promulgated on January 26, was the subject of very tense debates even within the old presidential majority that managed to vote on the text thanks to the abstention of the RN deputies.
“Quotas” immigration restrictions imposed by Parliament, reestablishment of the crime of illegal residence, return bond for foreign students, measures that limit family reunification or the right to land: the Constitutional Council had censored large sections of the text.
The Wise Men had thus refuted the main additions that the Macronist camp had granted to the right, in particular to Bruno Retailleau, then powerful head of the LR senators and the great architect of the hardening of the text.
In total, 32 of the 35 rejected provisions were considered legislative clauses, that is, without sufficient connection to the initial bill. A formal reason that does not prejudge its material conformity with the Constitution. Therefore, nothing excludes its proposal in the new text. Nor can they be rejected for their merits.
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Measures censored by the Constitutional Council “will serve as the basis for the new immigration bill”a government source told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Some could be modified and there will be additions”.
Maud Bregeon assured that the government will discuss with “all parliamentary groups” and I didn’t go “Do not seek support from the National Group”. The new law promises new heated debates in a tense parliamentary context, with a National Assembly where the fragile Barnier coalition does not have a majority.
“Scapegoat”
The left is already denouncing a gift given to Marine Le Pen and the RN. “We have a government (…) which gives us an immigration law as a pledge of the extreme right. “All this is sewn with white thread.”reacted the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.
“Here we go again after weeks of saturation of public debate around far-right issues”added MP Benjamin Lucas (Génération.s). The president of the environmental and social group, Cyrielle Chatelain, regretted “a legislative accumulation that solves nothing” and he has already done it “destroys the lives of many people”.
Since 1980, thirty-two laws on immigration and aliens have been adopted in France, according to the Museum of the History of Immigration.
Some voices within the Macronist camp could also welcome the Government’s announcement very warmly. “What we need is the implementation of the European Asylum and Migration Pact and the application of the December 2023 law, certainly not a new law based on populist foundations”Deputy Guillaume Gouffier (Together for the Republic) has already reacted.
NGOs are also up in arms. Bruno Retailleau “He only has the word “Republic” in his mouth, but he sees no problem in continually damaging it, betraying everything that France embodies in the defense of human rights”denounced the former socialist minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, today president of France Terre d’Asile.
“Given that budget austerity will demolish French public services and jobs, we must find a scapegoat”lamented Benoît Hamon, director of the NGO Singa that works for the professional integration of refugees and immigrants.
