A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #35 - Hunting foreigners: the situation in France - Plateforme Communiste Libertaire (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On January 23, 2025, Interior Minister Retailleau published a new 
circular canceling the so-called "Valls" circular of 2012 (relating to 
exceptional admissions to residence, i.e. the possibility for 
"undocumented" foreigners to obtain a residence permit). This new text 
is part of a mortifying political logic that continues to limit the 
rights of foreign citizens. ---- Over the past 45 years, around thirty 
immigration laws have been passed, with the pace of change accelerating 
over the past twenty years. ---- These laws are increasingly repressive 
and reflect the rise of the far right, both in terms of parliamentary 
representation and ideas.
A "pause" was obtained in 2012, with the "Valls" circular - named after 
the minister in office - which was wrested from the minister following a 
concerted strike by several thousand undocumented workers.
At the time considered timid and excessively restrictive by defenders of 
foreigners' rights, the circular was described as "lax" by Retailleau, 
who has just cancelled it with the stroke of a pen, thus returning to 
the path of maintaining undocumented workers in extremely precarious 
conditions.

Half a century of exponential growth in residence permit refusals, 
expulsions and detentions

In 1980, illegal residence became grounds for expulsion. The length of 
administrative detention gradually increased from 5 to 90 days.
Between 1980 and 1990, 13 Administrative Detention Centers (CRA) were 
opened, the number of which doubled.
The construction of another ten CRAs is budgeted for 240 million euros 
between now and 2027, bringing the total number of places to 3,000.
The mass confinement of foreign citizens before expulsion has therefore 
already been decided. Following the Hortefeux and Besson expulsion 
quotas, the number of expulsions increased by 26.7% in 2024 (21,600), 
while the number of regularized irregular migrants decreased by 10% 
(31,250, compared to an estimated 400,000-700,000 irregular migrants).

The latest "Darmanin" law

In January 2024, the "Darmanin" law, designed to "control immigration 
and improve integration", made it more difficult to obtain and maintain 
a residence permit.
To this end, it extends the notion of "threat to public order" 
(registration in the "Traitement d'Antécours Judiciaires" (TAJ) even 
without a conviction) and makes the "Obligation de Quitter le Territoire 
Français" (OQTF)[expulsion order]a sword of Damocles for many years if 
the person has remained in France.
In concrete terms, the enforceability of the OQTF will increase from 1 
year to 3 years, with retroactivity for those issued before 26 January 
2024. This means that an OQTF is grounds for refusal of a residence 
permit if it was issued less than 3 years before the date of the new 
application.
The conditions for renewing the residence permit after three years have 
been tightened, regardless of whether the permit is for family reasons, 
work or automatic residence. The criteria required for "integration" are 
increasing. French language diplomas, which assess oral and written 
skills, issued by authorized bodies, become mandatory (and subject to 
payment).
The required language level is proportional to the length of the 
residence permit: end of primary school for a 2 or 4-year permit, end of 
secondary school for a residence permit, and end of secondary school for 
naturalization.
In other words, selection based on writing is becoming a formidable 
factor. The signature of a "contract of commitment to respect the 
principles of the Republic" becomes a mandatory formality.
Finally, the rare protections against expulsion for young people, 
residents for more than 10 years, parents of French children, spouses of 
French citizens, and sick foreign nationals have been eliminated.
The "Interdiction de Retour sur le Territoire Français" (IRTF) is 
extended (from 3 to 5 years or more) and multiplied.
The practical effect of all these measures will not be to eliminate 
"illegal immigration".
They will have only one effect: to make foreigners in France even more 
vulnerable and exposed to public ridicule, thus facilitating their 
exploitation.

Computerization of procedures and inaccessibility

After the approval of the 2024 law and the publication of its 
implementing decrees, which lasted until July 2024 (that is, after the 
dissolution of the Assembly and before the formation of a new 
government!), the practices of the prefectures have changed.
An IRTF, which was previously limited, is now often annexed to the OQTF, 
and the prefectures, whose procedures are mostly computerized[1], have 
become even more inaccessible. For example, although it is extremely 
difficult to get an appointment at the prefecture, it is forbidden to 
enter without an appointment to renew a récépissé or a residence permit 
(including residence permits). If we add to this that for 2 or 3 years 
regularization applications receive virtually no response, these 
omnipresent procedures have very concrete consequences.
For many foreign nationals, including those who have been legally 
resident for years, they mean the loss of their jobs and the suspension 
of social security payments (family allowances, personalized housing 
subsidies, allowances for disabled adults, etc.).
Some of the proposals contained in the Darmanin bill were rejected by 
the Constitutional Council. Some articles were considered «  cavaliers 
législatifs »[amendments not relevant to the context of the law], in 
particular those relating to the tightening of family reunification and 
the criteria for issuing residence permits for family or health reasons, 
the introduction of a time limit before receiving certain social 
benefits, the restriction of jus soli, the exclusion of people subject 
to OQTF from emergency accommodation, etc.
However, the prefectural practices are in fact similar. One might think 
that the glass is full and that the government has given sufficient 
guarantees to the far right. But no!

One year later, another notch in the belt

One year later, the circular of 23 January 2025 does not simply cancel 
the circular of 2012, which allowed the regularization of more than 
30,000 people per year. It has also tightened the conditions for 
regularization, making them even more restrictive. The emphasis is on 
"integration", on proof of French language proficiency justified by a 
diploma (mentioned above), on the absence of OQTF or on the notion of 
threat to public order, a notion that is not defined anywhere, leaving 
the door open to all possible interpretations.
To reiterate the concept, each OQTF will systematically be accompanied 
by an IRTF. The length of stay in France before requesting 
regularization will increase from 5 to 7 years, and this ordeal of 
survival (without rights) will continue to delight the bosses and owners 
of slums for a long time to come.
The priority given to immigration for work reasons, which will represent 
30% of the cards issued by 2023, will therefore see a reduction in 
regularizations for reasons of private and family life.
A new list of occupations that are short of staff, not yet published, 
will serve as a guide for the prefects. Employers in the hotel and 
restaurant, construction, agriculture, cleaning and personal services 
sectors, who are having difficulty hiring, are already worried about the 
consequences of a zealous application of the new directives. Faced with 
a shortage of low-cost labor, will it be necessary, as in Italy, to 
introduce "Click days"[2]to grab previously unwanted foreign workers?

An opportunistic policy in a scenario of calamitous events

The increasingly xenophobic regulatory arsenal is not enough for this 
government, which seizes every opportunity to give further proof to the 
far right.
The murder of a 19-year-old girl by a foreigner on an OQTF, already 
convicted and imprisoned for rape, made the news. The Minister of the 
Interior took advantage of the situation to publish a circular addressed 
to the prefects, affectionately entitled "Strengthening the management 
of migration policy", asking them to increase the number of expulsions, 
rejections, withdrawals of residence permits and failures to renew them, 
including by reviewing cases prior to the Darmanin law, in order to 
apply the new provisions. Regarding expulsion measures, he added: "They 
must now be intensified and systematized".
In mid-December, Cyclone Chido hit Mayotte, a French department that has 
always been left in a state of poverty commensurate with the distance 
that separates it from mainland France. Faced with the catastrophe and 
the horror suffered by the population of this island, where the RN is 
advancing rapidly, scapegoats are immediately indicated: immigrants from 
neighboring islands.
On February 6, 2025, the French National Assembly adopted a bill on the 
right to legal status, worsening an amendment that had already limited 
this right in 2018. The text contains only one article. In order for 
children born in Mayotte to foreign parents to obtain French 
citizenship, the condition of legal residence is extended to both 
parents (compared to only one today) and the minimum period of legal 
residence required at the time of the child's birth is increased to 
three years (compared to three months currently). This proposal is 
obviously supported by Darmanin, who wants a reform of the Constitution 
and also wants to start a public debate on jus soli!
It did not take long for the sleight of hand to be unleashed, this time 
by Prime Minister Bayrou, who would like one on "francitude": "what does 
it mean to be French", then uses Zemmour's terms and speaks of 
"migratory submersion".
However, according to European statistics (Eurostat), France expels 
twice as many people as Spain and three times as many as Germany, while 
the foreign population has been stable for years in France and 
represents about 10% of the population. Immigration amounts to 100,000 
people per year, or 0.15% of the population.
And now a new attack looms, which we will have to fight: The right to 
marry will be prohibited in the case of a union with a person subject to 
OQTF.

Reacting to the escalation

Today we must propose concrete perspectives for the social struggle in 
general, including the defense of the rights of foreign workers.
The prefects, appointed by the government, are servants of the 
government. In recent years, they have interpreted the previous circular 
of 2012 in a very contradictory way, if not even opposite, depending on 
the department.
To date, Retailleau has not been able to modify the articles of the Code 
de l'Entrée et du Séjour des Étrangers et du Droit d'Asile (CESEDA) that 
deal with "exceptional admission to stay" (articles L.435-1 to L.435-4). 
The legal value of these articles is greater than that of a circular, 
the application of which is left to the discretion of the prefects.
This means that there is still a large margin for fighting to defend the 
rights of foreigners, a legal fight supported by a broad grassroots 
campaign to influence their decisions. Groups of undocumented migrants, 
trade unions, human rights associations, parents' associations, student 
associations, etc. are already organizing rallies and demonstrations.
One question remains: what role will employers of very small businesses, 
SMEs and artisans (some of whom are already organized in the association 
"Patrons solidaires") have in this movement?
Today, and for too long, whatever the strength and results of the 
mobilization, the poison distilled over the years by fascist and/or 
reactionary discourses on French identity, on the questioning of land 
rights and on the association between crime and immigration, will fuel 
racism and pollute consciences.
The struggles for the rights of foreigners must therefore be combined 
with an ideological struggle that defends an internationalist and 
universalist perspective, influencing the ideas of workers through 
social struggles.

Notes:

[1]In this regard, see the report of the French Observatory of Rights 
"L'administration numérique pour les étrangers en France (ANEF): une 
dématérialisation à l'origine d'atteintes massives aux droits des 
usagers" published in November 2024

[2]System set up to meet economic needs: the State defines quotas for 
professional immigration. Employers must submit their applications 
online, on specific dates and on the same day, to be able to access the 
quotas set by the government.

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