The French president of the office for immigration and integration (OFII), Guillaume Larrivé, has resigned due to the “lack of ambition” to “reduce immigration by the new government”.
He argued that he had accepted his assignment “to help reduce immigration and promote assimilation” but now he feels that he cannot fulfil his mission.
“Unfortunately, after listening to the new Prime Minister’s [Sébastien Lecornu] general policy statement, it seems to me that the government has abandoned any ambition to reduce immigration,” he wrote yesterday.
Larrivé was appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron on September 5 last year on the proposal of Bruno Retailleau, who was still interior minister at the time. His mission was supposed to last until 2028. The OFII was established in March 2009 and is the State structure in charge of legal migration.
In his letter, Larrivé praised the changes that were announced by the previous French government and Retailleau.
While in office, Retailleau announced tougher policies on immigration and was ready to reduce the number of visas given to Algerian nationals coming into France.
With the new government’s political orientation, Larrivé, who is a Republican party MP, argued that France’s “immigration chaos will amplify”.
“No serious effort will be made to reduce the number of visas or increase the number of deportations. No rigorous reforms will be carried out,” he said.
Following his letter, immigration lawyer Chirinne Ardakani welcomed his resignation.
“If all the members of the OFII’s board of directors could follow your lead, that would suit us just fine, we lawyers specialising in foreigners’ law.”
She added that in this letter, “we learn that those who sit on the OFII board had in mind to ‘reduce immigration’ rather than to ensure integration, the mission of this entity – in any case, according to its title”.
