The Minister of the Interior and Overseas Gérald Darmanin, visiting Mayotte, announced this Sunday from the town of Dzaoudzi, his desire to toughen the attribution of French nationality to children born on the archipelago, in order to cope with the very strong illegal immigration from the Comoros.
For a newborn to benefit from the right of the soil, he wishes that at least one of his parents has resided regularly on the island for at least one year, against three months currently.
In July 2018, the National Assembly had already taken a step in this direction by voting to adapt soli rights to Mayotte after a lively debate, including within the majority. The article introduced in the Senate required for children born in Mayotte that one of his parents had, on the day of birth, been regularly present on national territory for more than three months.
During a speech devoted to the Overseas Territories, Emmanuel Macron had then supported this approach, affirming that it allowed “to preserve the right of the soil” by “adapting its conditions of exercise to the reality of this territory”.
A new tightening of this measure was already to be included in a bill specific to Mayotte aborted in early 2022 after its rejection by local elected officials.
“Fighting against the social attractiveness of the territory”
In the 101st French department, the Minister of the Interior was presented with the new air and maritime means of combating illegal immigration. “The continuous increase in technical and human resources will not be enough,” Gérald Darmanin told the press. “We must fight against the social and administrative attractiveness of the territory,” he said.
“Technical and human resources will not be able to do everything as long as we have this legislation which still allows people to come here and very quickly not be able to be excluded from the island of Mayotte anymore”, he added.
According to INSEE, almost half of the population of Mayotte does not have French nationality, but a third of foreigners were born on the island.
This is the minister’s second overseas trip since he took over the Overseas portfolio this summer, after a visit to Reunion in early July.
The Minister of the Interior held a strong speech all summer on immigration, which will be the subject of a major debate in Parliament next autumn before the presentation of a bill.