As the US Senate debated away America's future this week, the lower house of France's legislature passed "comprehensive immigration reform" of its own (the law now still needs to be approved by the legislature's upper house).
It is the mirror image of what the Senate is preparing for America.
Instead of expanding legal immigration, the French law restricts it. Instead of loosening rules on "family reunification", it tightens them. Instead of making it easier for illegals to become citizens, it makes it harder.
The Washington Post reports:
The proposed law would dramatically change several longstanding French immigration policies. It would make it easier for the country to screen out low-income, poorly educated immigrants in favor of highly skilled workers; it would tighten restrictions under which immigrant workers can bring their families to France; and it would abolish the right of illegal immigrants to receive residency papers after living in France for 10 years.
While the American and French situations are not identical, they have important points in common. Like the US, France is confronted with economic migration on a scale unprecedented in its history. And, in both countries, the sheer number of new-comers is placing huge strains on social services, inter-communal relations and national security.
So why has France chosen restriction over liberalization? The answer is simple: the law's creator, Nicolas Sarkozy, hopes to win next year's presidential election.
In 2002, Front National (FN) candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen beat out sitting Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the first round of voting. To avoid a repeat of 2002, Sarkozy muct win over as much of the FN's base as possible without simultaneously alienating centrist voters -- and pushing for immigration restriction is the most obvious way to do that. As a number of recent polls have demonstrated, there is broad consensus among French voters on the need for immigration restriction. If record numbers of them voted for the FN in 2002, it was because they feel their concerns have been ignored by more centrist politicians.
Sarkozy is no dream candidate and his law, like most of his gestures, can fairly be described as cynical political calculation. But then that, increasingly, is politics. The real question is why it's not happening here.
Republican politicians take note. "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" may not be the only thing to which the US Senate is giving birth.
UPDATE: One of my favorite British bloggers, Pub Philosopher, recently expressed his views on America's immigration predicament ("Why I Fear for America"). This has led to lively debate in comments regarding the challenges posed by European and American immigration, respectively. Interested readers are encouraged to check it out.
