An "effective and balanced bill," as lawmakers have referred to it, with regard to asylum and immigration policy will be debated only next spring. It envisages notably expediting asylum demands and doubling to 90 days the maximum stay of unregistered newcomers in French holding centers, the last step before expulsion.
Instead of providing sufficient lodging, as Macron promised in July, the government has opted for endless residence permit check-ups, ramping up expulsions and exerting even more pressure on economic migrants. The latter are meanwhile increasingly looking in the direction of Britain, a report by ABC news suggests, as they arrive at the port city of Calais just to see the historic asylum for newcomers having been dismantled there. This apparently contradicts earlier promises made by Macron:
"By the end of the year, I do not want any more people in the streets and in the woods," the President said during a trip to Orleans in the Loiret region. "The first battle will be to house everyone decently. I want to see emergency accommodation everywhere. I do not want men and women in the streets," he continued.
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Meanwhile, multiple checks are being run on roads and in emergency housing – something that has traditionally been untouchable, even by security bodies. Macron’s formal rival Le Pen even called the move her own "political victory."
Referring to the apparently double-faced policies in the region, Patrick Weil, France's leading immigration specialist, said Macron "tweets about human rights and refugees during the day and at night gives the opposite orders," ABC news reported.
