Current Policies and Politics of Immigration into France

The conditions for French immigrants have not sufficiently improved in the last five years. France utilizes a “modèle d’intégration républicaine,” a model that dictates how to integrate immigrants into French citizenship. This system is intended to negate criteria such as ethnicity, race or religion; therefore, under this system, immigrants are guaranteed equal treatment, despite differences in nationality and faith. However, as demonstrated by the riots of 2005, the model of immigrant integration is a broken system. If the model were in effect in France, the police would not have senselessly beat dark-skinned protestors (Arab and African) to the ground, while frequently sparing protestors with white skin. Likewise, France would not be experiencing segregation and discrimination in three areas: at a personal level, which lowers self-esteem and fosters stereotypes; at an economic level, which limits employment opportunities and lowers social status; and at an institutional level, where immigrants are prevented from participating in policy-making.

Truthfully, the riots in France were not a conflict between different ethnicities, although ethnic conflict was an issue, because the riots were not designed to further the immigrants’ ethnic interests. Instead, segregation, which magnified cultural inequalities into violent discrimination, was the cause. After the 1968 riots in Washington D.C., United States Federal Communications Commissioner Nicholas Johnson stated, “A riot is somebody talking. A riot is a man crying out, “Listen to me mister. There’s something I’ve been trying to tell you and you are not listening.” More than an outburst by criminal “hoodlums,” as reported by Sarkozy, the riots were a plea for the French government to intervene on behalf of the immigrants and provide them with opportunities, equal to those of other French citizens, and a restoration of dignity. It was a plea for political representation on the behalf of poor working immigrants.