The government defends its idea of ​​a “job in tension” residence permit

On a thread, in the midst of the controversy over the OQTFs rising from the Lola affair and between two migrant boats lost at sea, the government is trying a balancing act to advance its immigration bill . A flagship measure bears witness to this: the “job in tension” residence permit, intended to put an end to the “hypocrisy” of illegal workers, without creating “a call for migratory air”.

The proposal to create this new residence permit, supposed to respond to the shortage of labor in certain trades, will be the subject of consultations “from November”, explained Thursday the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, on France info. This will include revising “for the beginning of 2023” the list of jobs in tension, created in 2008 and updated only once, in 2021. What “we are proposing is to put an end to a form of hypocrisy” and allow immigrant workers “to obtain a residence permit within this framework”, continued the Minister of Labour.

“Part of our economy runs on immigration”

The measure also responds to an accounting logic, defended the Minister of Public Accounts and Budget Gabriel Attal, on Europe1: “Our public finances are losing between 5 and 6 billion euros due to hidden work” which concerns, “to a large extent party”, “foreigners who are not declared by the companies”.

But on the right and on the far right, the outcry was immediate, the patron saint of deputies RN Marine Le Pen judging for example that this project carried the risk of a “worsening of the illegal immigration networks”. Eric Ciotti, candidate for the LR presidency, saw in it “an extraordinarily dangerous message because it calls for air to immigration”.

It is rather a “breath of fresh air”, estimated Gabriel Attal, because “part of our economy is running today thanks to immigration”. In any case, “it concerns between a few thousand and a few tens of thousands of people”, also tempered Olivier Dussopt. “There is no hidden plan for naturalization or mass regularization”, cleared government spokesman Olivier Véran on BFMTV.

Gérald Darmanin wants to deport delinquent foreigners

“It’s really what you have to do, (be) careful that there is no draft”, also reacted on CNews the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. The latter at the same time defended the repressive aspect of the measures, which constitutes the bulk of the bill, providing in particular for an overhaul of the asylum system to serve the efficiency of deportations, after the controversy over the murder of the young Lola, whose alleged perpetrator is subject to an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory).

“Of course there are still some (delinquent foreigners) on the territory, I am fighting for the lifting of the legislative protections which prevent me from deporting them”, he declared, referring to the case of people who arrived in France before the age of 13. The systematic registration of people threatened with expulsion in the file of wanted persons (RPF), proposed by Gérald Darmanin, “will make it possible to detect during any control (…) the presence of an OQTF to be executed”, confides his entourage, explaining that the FPR has 240,000 cumulative OQTFs but is “not up to date”.

“This repressive component gives xenophobic pledges to the right and the far right”, judged Jean-Albert Guidou, immigration specialist at the CGT. “Essentially repressive measures, which will reduce the rights of foreigners, very far from the announced balance”, also denounced the director general of the association France land of asylum, Delphine Rouilleault. She also denounces a “paradox” on the linguistic examination provided for in the reform: where Gérald Darmanin boasts of a “huge revolution”, she is sorry that learning French “as soon as you arrive in the territory” is not always unforeseen.