French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has called for a three-year suspension of legal immigration, arguing that the country has reached the limits of its capacity to integrate and assimilate newcomers.
In an interview published on May 24 by Le Journal du Dimanche, Darmanin said France should put “an end to immigration as it is currently conceived”. He told the newspaper the existing system was no longer sustainable and required a fundamental rethink.
“We have reached the limit of our capacity for integration and assimilation,” he said.
His remarks marked one of the most hardline positions taken by a serving member of the French Government on the issue, and laid out an agenda widely interpreted as a bid for the centre-right vote ahead of the 2027 presidential race.
Darmanin proposed amending the French Constitution to introduce binding migration quotas in place of the indicative figures currently used.
“I propose reforming the Constitution to allow the establishment of binding quotas, not indicative ones as is currently the case […] The Constitution will have to be modified,” he told the publication.
Among his other proposals were measures to prevent certain residence permits from granting the right to family reunification, and to make visa issuance conditional on countries of origin accepting the return of their nationals subject to deportation orders.
Darmanin also said he wanted the matter to be central to the next presidential campaign, signalling his intent to place immigration at the heart of the political debate in 2027 – the year President Emmanuel Macron is due to leave the Élysée Palace after his second term.
The minister has also called for foreign detainees to be transferred more swiftly to their countries of origin, in line with what he described as the need for tighter enforcement of removal orders.
His comments come as polling has consistently shown immigration to be among the top concerns of French voters, alongside the cost of living and public security. National Rally figures Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen have long called for a moratorium on legal immigration and for a national referendum on migration policy.
By advancing similar proposals, Darmanin — a long-time ally of Macron and a former interior minister — appears to be positioning himself as a candidate of the centre-right, though he has yet to formally declare any presidential ambitions.
The French Government has not yet indicated whether the proposals reflect cabinet policy or a personal initiative by the Justice Minister.
The 2023 immigration reform pushed through by Macron created new residence categories for shortage occupations and eased pathways for foreign entrepreneurs. Any moratorium of the kind suggested by Darmanin would mark a sharp reversal of that approach.
