PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has planned to make a second attempt at soaring expulsions of illegal immigrants after being under fierce pressure from his far-right opponents and a series of scandals.
Macron’s government has prepared to release the outlines of a new draft immigration law on Tuesday. The French parliament will debate over the outlines of the new draft in early 2023.
The latest attempt comes four years after a 2018 law passed during Macron’s first term in office with similar objectives. The 2018 law was also aimed at taking the heat out of a volatile political matter.
Link of immigration with crimes
“It’s about expelling better and integrating better,” Gerald Darmanin, the hardline interior minister of France, told France Inter radio on Tuesday about the new proposed law.
“We want those people who work, not the robbers who rob others.”
In recent weeks, the French President and interior minister have openly linked immigration to crime. Both leaders said that foreigners committed around half of the petty crimes in Paris.
Macron, while speaking to the Parisien newspaper, pitched the new law to address the historical rise of the far-right National Rally, which has been the biggest opposition party in parliament since June.
“We need a policy that is humane and firm in accordance with our values,” Macron said. “It’s the best remedy to the extremes which is fueling anxieties.”
The interior ministry figures show that France currently expels around 10 percent of migrants who were earlier ordered to leave the country, and the rate has never been higher than 20 percent.
