French Interior Minister Retailleau charts new hardline immigration strategy

EXPLAINER

The newly formed French government plans to adopt another, tougher immigration bill next year, and leading the charge is hardline Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. It is the latest in a series of moves under French President Emmanuel Macron to tackle immigration, a favourite talking point of the far right.


Issued on: 26/10/2024 - 
By: Sonya CIESNIK

France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau visits an Immigration Detention Centre east of Paris, on October 11, 2024. © Julien de Rosa, AFP

Shortly after Bruno Retailleau took over as interior minister he made it clear he had a “law-and-order” agenda, vowing among other things to crack down on illegal immigration.

“The French people want more order order in the streets, order at the borders,” he said upon taking up his new role in late September after more than two months of political impasse in France.

Retailleau has denounced “mass immigration”, suggesting that France could be overwhelmed by migratory flows in a rhetorical shift that echoes the long-time refrains of the far right.

While immigration has seen a steady rise in France over the past decade, it pales in comparison to rates seen in other European nations. Some 5.8 million immigrants lived in France at the start of 2013, equal to 8.8 percent of the population, according to official statistics.

By 2023, France was home to 7 million immigrants, or some 10.7 percent of the population. In comparison, immigrants made up around 19 percent of the population in Germany, 16 percent in Spain and 14 percent in the United Kingdom in 2022, according to official and OECD statistics.

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The issue was catapulted to the forefront once again in the wake of the grisly rape and murder of a 19-year-old student known only as Philippine in September. The main suspect was a young Moroccan man previously convicted of rape who had been ordered to leave France.

After having served a five-year sentence, he was released in September on the condition that he regularly report to the authorities after Moroccan authorities failed to deliver the travel documents necessary to expel him.

In response to this “abominable crime”, Retailleau called for laws making it easier to deport foreigners convicted of criminal acts.

"It is up to us, as public leaders, to refuse to accept the inevitable and to develop our legal arsenal to protect the French," he said.

"If we have to change the rules, let's change them."

The French parliament had already adopted a tougher immigration law that was backed by the far right back in December, prompting the left to once again accuse Macron’s government of caving to extremes. France’s highest court later struck down parts of the law, deeming them unconstitutional.

Other EU governments are also cracking down on migration, with Germany tightening its borders for a six-month period starting in September and Italy controversially transferring migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean to processing centres in Albania.

Retailleau’s proposals range from restricting access to medical care to expanding the use of detention centres while also pressuring origin and transit countries to accept more migrants.
Re-writing the rule book

A 2012 plan that came into effect under former interior minister Manuel Valls allowed for up to 30,000 undocumented migrants to be legalised every year. Individuals can request asylum based on family links (a process known as chain migration) or based on their status as a “temporary worker”.

Retailleau plans to replace the law with a new, more restrictive one. Being granted legal status would be attributed more slowly, he said, and “based on the reality of a job and the possibility of integration”.

Retailleau has also made clear he wants to extend the maximum period that immigrants can remain in detention centres from the current 90-day limit. He has proposed increasing this period to 210 days for the perpetrators of sexual crimes “in line with the rules for terrorists”, he says.
Past the point of no return

The Philippine case has sparked a new round of debate over expulsions, notably when a prior criminal conviction is at question. The “obligation to leave French territory” (OQTF) is a judicial order for a foreign national to leave France either immediately or within 30 days. Today only 7 percent of OQTFs are executed, mainly because origin countries are often reluctant.

Retailleau has floated offering visas and development aid in exchange, or threatening to impose tariffs, to pressure countries to take back their nationals. The interior minister also wants transit countries to be more willing to take back people who cannot be returned to their country of origin, for example Afghanistan.

He promised to nominate a special envoy in the weeks to come who would oversee concluding migration agreements with transit countries.
Access denied

Among one of the most controversial measures proposed by Retailleau is reducing State Medical Aid (AME), which provides free healthcare to undocumented migrants.

“France is one of the European countries that gives the most advantages and I don’t want France to be a singular case, or for it to be the most attractive country in Europe for a certain number of social services, or access to healthcare,” he said.

A similar proposal last year prompted medical workers to vow to disobey the new rules, pledging to “continue to treat undocumented patients free of charge and based on their needs, in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath”.

The proposal has led to divisions even within the government.

“There is no way we can touch State Medical Aid. AME also insures the health of the French by limiting certain contagions,” warned Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq.