FRENCH COURT SCRAPS LARGE PARTS OF NEW IMMIGRATION LAW – Measures make it harder for migrants to bring relatives in & access state welfare
Large parts of a new French immigration law, including restrictions on access to welfare benefits for migrants and to citizenship for their children born in France, must be scrapped, the Constitutional Council said on Thursday, January 25th.
The court, which determines whether laws are constitutional, struck down 35 of the 80 measures contained in the bill. Most of the scrapped clauses were introduced by opposition right-wing lawmakers during a turbulent parliamentary process.
Measures, including making it harder for migrants to bring in relatives to live with them in France, for birth in France to lead to citizenship and to get access to state welfare, were scrapped for procedural reasons.
Far-left lawmaker Eric Coquerel said the measures were anti-Republican and drawn from the extreme right, and saw immigration as a problem.
The ruling offers some relief to President Emmanuel Macron, who had made the bill a key plank of his second term.
Gathered some hundred metres away from the courthouse, a group of people opposed to the bill said they were still concerned, despite the changes.
Undocumented migrant workers who joined the protest said they want to “live with dignity”