The new bill will include measures to increase the detention period for illegal migrants who pose a threat, French media reported.
French authorities want to pass a new immigration law next year, a spokeswoman said, as the new right-wing government seeks to curb immigration. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told BFMTV on Sunday:
There will be a need for a new law.
The government’s plan to tighten immigration policy and border controls is emblematic of a rightward shift in French politics following this summer’s legislative elections, which resulted in a hung parliament.
Michel Barnier’s government hopes to introduce the bill into parliament in early 2025. A Parisian student was raped and murdered in September, further sharpening the French debate on migration after a Moroccan man was named as a suspect in the attack.
The government wants to extend the detention period for illegal migrants deemed dangerous to better enforce expulsion orders.
One option being considered is to increase the maximum detention period from 90 days to 210 days, which is now only possible for terrorist offences. Adding that there should be “no taboos when it comes to protecting the French,” Bregeon said:
We don’t rule out the possibility of considering other provisions.
France had already passed an immigration law last December. The bill was tightened to win the support of right-wing MPs. But the country’s top constitutional body condemned most of the new amendments, which were cancelled before President Emmanuel Macron signed the law.
The measures rejected by the Constitutional Council “will form the basis for a new immigration bill,” a government source told AFP. He also added:
Some of them may be modified and some may be supplemented.
