French justice minister calls for three-year halt to legal immigration

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has called for a three-year moratorium on legal immigration, saying France has reached the limits of its capacity to integrate and assimilate migrants.

In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Darmanin said France could no longer sustain immigration under current conditions and argued the issue should be decided during the country’s next presidential election.

“We have reached the limits of our capacity in terms of integration and assimilation. That is why I now firmly believe that we must put an end to immigration in its current form. This is why I am proposing a three-year moratorium on legal immigration,” Darmanin said.

The French minister said the initiative aimed to sharply restrict immigration. As a first step, he proposed ending automatic family reunification rights for holders of work-related residence permits.

Darmanin also advocated amending the constitution to replace advisory migration quotas with binding quotas. He said such a system would allow France to debate the number of applicants, their countries of origin and their professional qualifications.

“Let us stop immigration, deport those who should be deported, make the issuance of visas conditional on the acceptance of deportation orders, and begin working on the assimilation of those already in the country,” Darmanin said, defending the approach in the interview.

France’s justice minister also argued that immigration should no longer be used to suppress wages.

“Today, many difficult jobs are being left to foreign workers, particularly those who are poorly paid and exploited by unscrupulous employers,” he said.

Responding to a question about a possible referendum on immigration, Darmanin said: “I have never been afraid of keeping promises made to the people.”

He added that constitutional changes would be required.

According to a report by the Migration Research and Analysis Center, part of the independent RFBerlin institute, the number of migrants in the European Union reached 64.2 million in 2025, based on data from Eurostat and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The same report said the EU had approximately 40 million migrants in 2010. That means the migrant population increased by more than 60% over the past 15 years. The report also noted that migrants now account for 14.2% of the EU population.

According to the report, Germany hosts the largest migrant population among EU member states, with 18 million foreign nationals. France’s migrant population was put at 8.5 million.

RFI reported that data from France’s General Directorate for Foreign Nationals showed the number of legal migrants holding valid residence permits in the country exceeded 4.5 million in 2025.

The same data showed that by the end of 2025 France had issued 1.5 million residence permits on family grounds. Residence permits granted under automatic renewal procedures reached 900,000, while permits issued on humanitarian grounds exceeded 700,000.

France’s National Assembly adopted an immigration law on Dec. 19, 2023. The legislation included measures designed to facilitate deportations, tighten family reunification rules, impose stricter conditions for access to social benefits and introduce annual immigration quotas.

The measure passed the National Assembly with the support of 349 lawmakers, while 186 voted against it. Darmanin was among the principal architects of the initiative.

The tightening of immigration policy triggered protests across France. In January 2024, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Paris.

At the time, France Info reported that around 200 protests against the new law were planned nationwide.

France’s immigration crisis developed as part of the broader European migration crisis that intensified around 2015. During that period, migration flows from North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia toward Europe accelerated.

Asylum seekers fleeing war, economic instability and humanitarian crises attempted to reach European countries.

US President Donald Trump also commented on irregular migration last July, describing it as a “horrible invasion” that was “killing Europe.”

Speaking during a visit to Scotland, Trump said: “You had better get your act together, or you won’t have Europe anymore.”