The new immigration law contemplates providing undocumented foreigners with a residence permit for “professions in tension”, in which there is a lack of labor, and the opposition describes the proposal as “insanity”
The French Government wants to regularize “with a dropper” ‘undocumented’ immigrants who are already present in Gallic territory and who work in sectors “in tension”, that is, in those very lacking in labor, such as construction, agriculture or the hospitality. To those immigrants in an irregular situation in France, the Executive would offer them a residence permit for a “profession in tension”, announced yesterday the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, in a joint interview with the newspaper ‘Le Monde’.
This is one of the proposals of the Immigration bill that the Government of Emmanuel Macron is preparing and that will be debated by Parliament at the beginning of 2023. “We are going to be bad with the bad and kind with the kind,” is how Darmanin summarizes the philosophy of the future French immigration law. The current law dates from 2019.
As was to be expected, the right and the extreme right criticized the ministers’ proposal to regularize ‘undocumented immigrants’. The deputy Aurélien Pradié, candidate for the presidency of the Republicans (moderate right), fears that this reform opens the door to “automatic and massive regularization” of undocumented immigrants who already live in France, which he considered “crazy”.
“Behind Gérald Darmanin’s ‘residence permit for professions in tension’ there is actually a right to regularization, a real pull effect for millions of immigrants,” far-right MEP Jordan Bardella warned on Twitter. “The viable solution for trades in tension is the increase in wages, not mass immigration,” added Bardella, candidate for the presidency of National Regroupment, Marine Le Pen’s party.
“This is not about massive regularization,” Darmamin responded to criticism from the right and the extreme right. They will be “dropper regulations”, based on certain criteria, such as training, the obligation to speak French or having a promise to hire an employer, the minister said. Darmanin also vows to crack down on foreign criminals. “If a foreigner commits criminal acts, he must leave the national territory,” warned the minister in statements to the press at the National Assembly.
The head of the Interior wants to improve the execution of the expulsion orders (OQTF, in its acronym in French) of foreigners who are in an irregular situation in Gallic territory. Currently, only 13% of foreigners with an OQTF are actually expelled.
Darmanin, who is located in the most right-wing wing of the Government, promises that they will register all immigrants with an expulsion order in the File of Wanted Persons. This file is used by the Police, gendarmes and customs agents, in order to verify that the person has indeed left France. Currently, only dangerous foreigners are tracked. The minister wants to “make life impossible” for foreigners who have an expulsion order by ensuring, for example, that they do not receive social benefits or have access to social housing.
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