To justify this new law on asylum and immigration, the 29th since 1980, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin invoked delinquency, a week after Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his desire to “toughen the rules” in when, according to the president, “at least half of the offenders” are foreigners in Paris. In the columns of the newspaper Le Monde, Gérald Darmanin and Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, thus unveiled the main lines of the immigration bill. They tout the “balance” between tougher deportations and an outstretched hand for immigrant workers. A large part of the provisions included in the text come from the parliamentary report of the president Les Républicains of the law commission, François-Noël Buffet.
While the Lola affair, named after the young girl killed by an Algerian national without papers, has put the question of the obligations to leave French territory (OQTF) at the center of the debate, the text must first introduce a series measures to make them more effective. “We are now going to register all the OQTFs in the file of wanted persons, the RPF”, explains Gérald Darmanin. “It is not a question of reestablishing the offense of illegal residence but of being able to note that the person leaves as when, for example, he takes a plane and thus to count all the departures of foreigners”. The government is criticized, particularly by the far right, for the low rate of implementation of these measures. France issues about 120,000 OQTFs per year, but actually executes less than 10%.
“First, there are nearly 50% of OQTFs which are the subject of appeals which suspend them”, defended the minister, reaffirming that he wanted to “greatly simplify the procedures” by going “from twelve to four categories of appeal” possible. In addition, the tenant of Place Beauvau specifies that a request will be made to the prefectures so that they carry out a follow-up of people under OQTF, which does not exist today. “The prefect will ensure that their life is made impossible, for example by ensuring that they no longer receive social benefits or social housing. We are changing gears,” he said.
The Minister of the Interior also wants to end the “public order reservations”, which “prevent the removal of people who arrived before 13 years” in France. The government wants to leave “the judge to decide whether or not they should stay”, underlined Gérald Darmanin. The bill also provides for several reforms in the area of asylum, including the generalization of the single judge at the National Court for the Right of Asylum (CNDA), where a collegial formation will only meet for “very difficult cases”. The rejection of an asylum application at first instance at the Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) “will be worth OQTF with the possibility of appeal within fifteen days”, indicated Gérald Darmanin.
“If I had to summarize, I would say that we must now be mean to the mean and nice to the good. We are also going to propose the automatic renewal of the multi-year titles of those who pose no problem, who have no record judicial”, he continued, estimating at several hundred thousand the number of people concerned.
Within the framework of the bill, which must be preceded by a parliamentary debate, the government also wishes to emphasize professional integration. “One of the objectives we are pursuing is to put work back at the center of the game”, explained Olivier Dussopt in the same interview. And to add: “I will not fail to address before Parliament the possibility of allowing asylum seekers, of whom we are absolutely sure that they come from countries in conflict, to be able to work as soon as they arrive on the French soil”.
The Minister of Labor also pleaded for the creation of a “job in tension” residence permit to recruit in sectors with a shortage of manpower. “We hope, especially in shortage occupations such as construction, that the immigrant worker in an irregular situation can request the possibility of remaining on the territory without going through the employer”, specified the Minister of Labor. “We may not be giving enough residence permits to people who work and that some employers use as a reserve army, to speak like Marx,” added Gérald Darmanin. A point that could satisfy the long-standing demands of employers. Nevertheless, the government warns that it wishes at the same time “to toughen the sanctions against those who resort to illegal work”.
