Thousands of demonstrators, including undocumented foreign workers, gathered near the Eiffel Tower on Sunday to protest against a recently approved French immigration law that will reduce social welfare payments to foreigners and delay benefits such as housing allowances. The Ministry of the Interior estimated that 16,000 protesters participated in a march from Trocadéro Square on Sunday, while the CGT union claimed that 25,000 protesters were present. The immigration bill, presented by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, was approved by both houses of Parliament on December 19 last year and has been sent by French President Macron to the Constitutional Council for review.
The law, which represents a compromise between the president's centrist party and the conservative opposition, reflects a shift to the right in politics across much of Europe, where governments are trying to curb the rise of the far right by implementing stricter measures on immigration. Stricter rules have been added to the bill, including immigration quotas, making it harder for migrant children to become French citizens and delaying migrants' access to social welfare benefits such as housing allowances in order to gain support from right-wing legislators for the bill.
The French government initially stated that this would be a carrot-and-stick legislation that would make it easier for migrants working in labor-shortage sectors such as construction, restaurants, and agriculture to obtain residency permits, while also facilitating the expulsion of undocumented migrants. For a long time, the French have prided themselves on having one of the most generous social welfare systems in the world, providing payments even to foreign residents to help them pay rent or care for their children. The far right, and recently some conservatives, have argued that these benefits should be restricted to the French people only.
