Written by Victor Villarreal Cabello
Major immigration countries have been deploying policies of containment and selection from the logic of securitisation in the twenty-first century. The French immigration policy has recently enacted a new law on immigration on December 19th, 2023, which represents a turning point in France’s ideological and legislative approach to the migrant crisis. The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas of France published the Presentation of the Law to Control Immigration. According to the text, some key points of this measure guarantee the right to asylum to “fight against irregular migration” and improve integration (Ministère de l’intérieur et des outre-mer, 2024a); many have interpreted both as anti-immigrant actions.
The law presents four immediate measures and seven trends for migration policy, as follows: 1) facilitating the removal of foreigners whose behaviour represents a serious threat to public order; 2) putting an end to the detention of families with minors; 3) organising the regularization of foreigners working in professions in shortage without the employer’s agreement; and 4) fighting against the trafficking and exploitation of foreigners (Ministère de l’intérieur et des outre-mer, 2024b, p. 4).
Conversely, the seven orientations or trends are: 1. Control borders at the national and European levels. 2. Expel foreigners who represent a threat to public order. 3. Sanction the exploitation of foreigners. 4. Improve integration through language, work, and commitment to respect the principles of the Republic. 5. Guarantee the right to asylum by initiating a structural reform of our organization. 6. Simplify the litigation rules related to the entry, stay, and removal of foreigners. 7. Adapt our migration policy to the specificities of Overseas Territories.
The first immediate measure builds the idea of migrants as criminals. The previous idea is that many migrants are illegal and prone to crime. The fourth immediate measure tries to fight human trafficking; nevertheless, this means that “governments can present more restrictive immigration controls as if they were measures designed to protect and promote human rights” (O’Connell Davidson, 2005, p. 69). Human trafficking is a discourse that legitimises control and restive actions with the discourse of protecting victims or “possible” victims (Ruíz Muriel y Álvarez Velasco, 2019, p. 692).
The human trafficking market exists, and some people suffer its effects. In contrast, a non-regular border crossing cannot always be treated as an unwanted or wanted crossing by migrants. First, human trafficking “involves exploiting men, women, or children for forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation” (DHS, 2017). Second, human smuggling “involves providing a service—typically, transportation or fraudulent documents—to an individual who voluntarily seeks to gain illegal entry into a foreign country” (DHS, 2017). In the discursive dimension, people sometimes confuse both terms. In practice, it seeks to criminalise migration and the people who help with non-regular crossings.
Since January, thousands of people have marched across France to demand the withdrawal of the restrictive bill adopted by the Parliament (Pascual, 2024). This means social and political disapproval. Some analysts (Gatinois and Segaunes, 2023) see the adoption of this law as Emmanuel Macron’s open political crisis because the proposal comes from the right as a victory of the conservative political party and clear signs of xenophobic ideas around France.
It is important to mention that the law creates “quotas” set by the Parliament to limit the number of foreigners admitted to the country for the next three years. The constitutional council is expected to annul this measure as it is considered unconstitutional. Another effect is the restriction jus soli: people born in France to foreign parents will no longer obtain French nationality upon reaching the age of majority. They will now have to apply for it between the ages of 16 and 18, and foreigners born in France convicted of a crime will not be able to obtain French citizenship. Furthermore, the law also requires a student deposit, which means foreign students will have to pay a deposit to apply for a student residence permit to cover “possible expulsion costs” (Le Monde and AFP, 2023).
Legislative approval provided anti-immigrant concessions promoted by the extreme right. Marine Le Pen’s party won an “ideological victory.” This was thanks to legislative and political pressure (Le Monde, 2023). In that sense, this is a symptom of a change in the French immigration policy and of the inability of the left in power to maintain immigration policies that are less harmful to international migrants. It is worrisome that politicians within Europe use xenophobia for political election purposes. Even though the French immigration policy incorporates some restrictive measures and operates on different assumptions that exclude migrants. We still need to monitor the material and practical effects that this immigration law will have on the ordinary migrant.
References
Gatinois, C. and Segaunes, N. (2023). Loi sur l’immigration : le texte adopté, crise ouverte au sein du camp Macron. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2023/12/20/loi-immigration-l-executif-affiche-sa-satisfaction-d-avoir-traverse-la-tempete-mais-n-eteint-pas-le-malaise-au-sein-de-la-majorite_6206814_823448.html.
Le Monde (2023). Loi sur l’immigration : une rupture politique et morale. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/12/20/loi-sur-l-immigration-une-rupture-politique-et-morale_6206843_3232.html.
Le Monde and AFP (2023). What’s in France’s controversial immigration law?. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/12/20/what-s-in-france-s-controversial-immigration-law_6361995_7.html.
Ministère de l´intérieur et des outre-mer (2024a). Présentation de la loi pour contrôler l’immigration et améliorer l’intégration. Ministère de l´intérieur et des outre-mer. https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/actualites/actualites-du-ministere/presentation-de-loi-pour-controler-limmigration-et-ameliorer.
Ministère de l´intérieur et des outre-mer (2024b). Loi pour contrôler l’immigration et améliorer l’intégration. Ministère de l´intérieur et des outre-mer. https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sites/minint/files/medias/documents/2024-01/Presentation_loi_immigration.pdf.
O’Connell Davidson, J. (2005). Children in the Global Sex Trade. Cambridge, UK and Maiden, US Polity Press.
Pascual, J. (2024). Opponents of France’s immigration law take to street protests. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/01/15/opponents-of-france-s-immigration-law-take-to-street-protests_6433872_7.html.
Ruíz Muriel, M. C. y Álvarez Velasco, S. (2019).Excluir para proteger: la “guerra” contra la trata y el tráfico de migrantes y las nuevas lógicas de control migratorio en Ecuador. Estudios sociológicos, 37(11). https://doi.org/10.24201/es.2019v37n111.1686.
US Department of Homeland Security (2017). Human Trafficking vs Human Smuggling. https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report/2017/CSReport-13-1.pdf.
Victor Villarreal Cabello is a graduate student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and teaches International Migration at the Rosario Castellanos University, Mexico City. This article is part of the collective research project PAPIIT IN302324 Diaspora Communication and Diplomacy. Perspectives from Reception Contexts in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, supported by DGAPA – UNAM, coordinated by Prof. Camelia Tigau. Revised by Abril Aguilar, affiliated with the same project. Contact papiit302324@unam.mx