French parliamentarians are considering an immigration bill that threatens to restrict the rights of asylum seekers and migrants. On the other hand, it would also bring some relaxation for a part of immigration rules. The bill is to be debated in the Senate from November 6, 2023, and is expected to be sent to the National Assembly in December.
Debates begin this Monday in the Senate on the immigration bill. A high-risk text was presented a year ago, then postponed several times. It is at the end of the afternoon, this Monday, that the senators will consider the study of the immigration bill.
The text, examined on 6 November, also provides for the tightening of the right to asylum and family reunification, as well as the restriction of State Medical Aid, transformed into Emergency Medical Aid.
To do this, the government wants to rely on the balance of the text, combining integration and firmness. The first objective of this bill is to facilitate the expulsion of foreign offenders. All those convicted of crimes or misdemeanors punishable by at least ten years in prison will have to leave the territory.
Newly discussed immigration bill changes
The main changes regarding this bill include:
- The inclusion of a limited provision to end the detention of migrant children under the age of 16, which would not protect children in French Overseas Territories, particularly Mayotte, and those who are detained at borders or airports;
- Provisions aimed at weakening existing protections, both for foreign nationals subject to an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF) and for those subject to a forced expulsion decision;
- A provision aimed at withdrawing or refusing to renew a residence permit from a person who does not comply with the “principles of the Republic”;
- Provisions aimed at weakening the rights of appeal for asylum seekers and administrative procedures relating to migrants.
The government also wants to lift certain expulsion restrictions, such as arriving on the territory before the age of 13 or being married to a French man or woman.
The other part is integration with the possibility for certain asylum seekers to have immediate access to the labor market. The text aims to establish the regularization of foreigners who work in professions in shortage. This is the famous article 3, which the right does not want. On this subject, the executive seeks a compromise, leaving the prefects with the power to regularize.
The bill also reintroduces a provision from a controversial law against “separatism” that had been censored by the Constitutional Council, France’s highest constitutional authority, on the grounds of its vagueness. This provision, modified following this censorship, would allow the authorities to withdraw or refuse to renew the residence permits of people who do not comply with the “principles of the Republic”, a measure which apparently targets Muslims considered to be engaging in “separatism”.
The bill would also weaken procedural guarantees for migrants and asylum seekers, notably by reducing the number of judges responsible for examining asylum appeals from three to one in most cases, which which would have the effect of excluding specialized judges from the procedure. The Defender of Rights declared that this measure risks infringing the right to an effective remedy of asylum seekers and is likely to “deprive applicants of the fundamental procedural guarantees of fair justice which are independence and impartiality of Justice “.