” Two years after the so-called Sarkozy law of November 26, 2003 amending the legislation on immigration and asylum, the government decided to proceed with a new reform. This time, it is not the nth modification of the status of foreigners residing in France. The previous one, presented as a marvel of realism and balance, had the stated objective of fighting against irregular immigration, by allegedly controlling migratory flows, and of putting an end to the double penalty. The Minister of the Interior then intended to display “firmness” towards those deemed undesirable and who took advantage of the flaws in the system to go underground and “humanity” towards those, victims of the double penalty. , who had grown up in France and who deserved as such not to be deported to an unknown country of origin. No assessment has been made on the effects of this law. Organizations, whose role is to help, advise and support foreigners and their families in their administrative procedures, know that the law has made life impossible for thousands of people, by filling the detention centers, not to mention the increase in arrests based on skin color.
But this law was not enough. Persevering in its desire to designate the foreigner as responsible for all evils and immigration as The problem, in its pre-election period, which is quick to generate abuse and verbal discrepancies, the government is preparing to wage a new destructive battle over status. foreigners, leaving them even more to the discretionary power of the prefects and to the arbitrariness of the mayors.
Inspired in part by European policy, the preliminary draft officially consecrates a resumption of immigration, by locking it into an entirely utilitarian approach. It is supposed to correspond to the new government credo, namely to stop “suffered” immigration and promote “chosen” immigration. This reform is not one more reform: it constitutes a real break in the sense that, for the first time, family immigration is officially designated as “undergone immigration” (a term widely understood here).
“United against disposable immigration”, which brings together nearly 300 organizations, offers a joint analysis of this preliminary draft, the result of collective reflection and work. This relates to the latest version of the government text dated February 9, 2006 presented to the interministerial committee and to the press. However, it appeared necessary to us to report the evolutions of this document on the one hand because the first interministerial working document (dated December 18, 2005) is transparent on the real intentions of the government, on the other hand because There is nothing to indicate that this latest state of negotiations between the ministries concerned will not change yet, in particular over the course of parliamentary debates in a direction close to these original intentions.
In any case, United (s) against disposable immigration intends to fight forcefully against this reform which plans to reduce the foreigner to the labor force that he represents, by denying the rights attached to his person. In doing so, the government is continuing its enterprise of destabilizing populations already weakened by years of blind, unworthy politics and disregarding fundamental freedoms. “