Le Pen asks why France keeps foreigners: Meloni case shows 50% surge in 2023

Le Pen asks why France should keep foreigners

One reason. Marine Le Pen challenges anyone to give a single argument for keeping foreigners in France. The question sets the terms: many have French passports and were born there, making deportation impossible.

Why France can no longer deport those it wants to expel

The argument is arithmetic, not sarracena. Mass immigration began in the 1960s and 70s. Their descendants are French citizens with voting rights. They cannot be sent to countries where they never lived. The real issue is second and third generations who do not identify with their passport country. Border closure rhetoric was effective decades ago but is now too late.

Stripping nationality: the Constitutional barrier

If deportation is impossible, the temptation is to change the law. The repeated formula is replacing citizenship by soil with jus sanguinis (right of blood): only children of French citizens would be French. The legal obstacle is significant. In Spain, Article 11 of the Constitution states: "No Spanish national by origin may be deprived of their nationality." Denmark has withdrawn nationality in specific cases.

The Meloni precedent and 50% increase in arrivals

The most repeated warning has an Italian accent. Giorgia Meloni's government came to power with a hard line against irregular immigration. According to the cited data, landings increased by 50% in 2023. Her Interior Minister admitted failure. This creates distrust in similar electoral promises: it is not that they do not want to comply, but that their margin for maneuver is minimal.

Social benefits, CFA franc, and who pays for the collapse

Another axis is economic. Some analysis suggests the pull is monetary, not ideological: remove benefits, and many would leave voluntarily. Proposals require foreigners to find work within six months or leave. Others look further back: the CFA franc, created under De Gaulle and tying African economies, is part of the explanation. Rich countries receive those they previously exploited.

There is also a personal absurdity: some seek French passports before rules tighten because IRPF (income tax) is more favorable than in Spain. Critics argue this mentality leads to defending a country one does not belong to in a conflict one did not choose.

Demographics: 36 million and birth rates that do not rise

Underlying all this is demography. With some of the lowest birth rates in the world, sustaining the system without foreign input is difficult arithmetic. Proposals to bring young workers from nearby countries without family burdens do not fix the pyramid, only its composition. Identity disputes are louder and less resolvable.

With these elements, any promise of quick cleansing sounds like campaigning. The disconcerting data came from someone unintentionally: there was a time when Spain had 36 million inhabitants and, in their own words, "we lived very well." No one has yet said how many inhabitants are needed to pay pensions without importing anyone.