In a deeply original collective book, twenty-three contributors analyze the methods of processing foreigners in France. Their study, both exploration of administrative processes and description of individual and collective journeys, goes beyond the stage of indignation to assess the political and social results of French immigration policy “ chosen ».
Eighty short individual or family stories open That Franceafter a laconic introduction: all tell the failure of an immigration company in France. These are stories of expulsion and exclusion. The authors, a collective of journalists, academics and associative activists, founded in December 2007 the association which gives its title to the work. Taking the watchword from “ breakup “Put forward by the candidate for the presidency of the Republic who became head of state, they wonder about the realities and the sense of the changes implemented by the latter in the field of immigration. The twenty-three contributors have been responsible for monitoring the methods of processing foreigners whose authorities have judged that they should be “ remotely »Of French territory. Designing their business throughout the duration of the Sarkozyen mandate, they propose to publish, annually, a report on this policy, its practices, the resistance to which it gives and the logics which it claims.
On the cover of this first volume, two dates mark the terminals of the introductory stage of this project: May 6, 2007 and June 30, 2008. It is a question of describing France which elected Nicolas Sarkozy in its relationship to foreigners, immigrants and illegal. Because this advent brought in him a promise of rupture and even ruptures: at the forefront of these, the creation of a ministry of immigration, national identity and co-development. Four great times punctuate this trip, which is intended to both an exploration of the logics and practices of immigration policy and a description of individual and collective journeys. The stories which constitute the first part of the work retrace the life, often tragic, of those which are subject to procedures of distance. Clandestine arrivals on French territory, black work, refusal of regularization, arrests, detention and expels form the common lot of eighty cases highlighted. A second step, entitled “ Descriptions “, Stops to follow the realities of French immigration policy as closely as possible, taking as a starting point the mission letter received by Brice Hortefeux from the hands of the President of the Republic. In a third part, the form of the stories reappears: in mirror of the inaugural portraits of foreigners are those of the very actors of this rupture, twenty-one prefects whose action with regard to immigrants is subject to a specific examination. Finally, a conclusive part has the title “ Questions »: The reflection then relates to the coherence of French immigration policy, but also and above all to its meaning and its scope.
Because the authors want to go beyond the stage of indignation and ask the question of the economic, political and social efficiency of the objectives, in particular encrypted, assigned to the action of the new ministry and the administrations. They are animated by a desire to analyze, to detail, to assess the mechanisms and results of the French policy of “ Immigration chosen ». Does she really satisfy France’s economic needs ? What does the new “suppose” result culture »» ?
Stimulating perspectives are opened by the authors. Among them, we discover a reflection on the gendered character of migratory policies. “” The body of foreign women (…) strictly speaking a national identity issue (P. 117): It is indeed at the heart of political and media attentions. Prostitute, immigration woman, daughter of the neighborhoods: these recurring, caricatural and vague figures, are at the center of the design of a “ immigration undergone », Let us refuse in the very name of the freedom of individuals it concerns. The denunciation of the violence suffered by these women is at the center of a policy of definition of national identity, backed by the idea of a relational and sexual modernity. But the French immigration policy is also the advertising of the quantified objectives of foreigners to be repeated to the borders. This strategy is fraught with consequences in the analysis made by the authors: “ Creation of a climate conducive to the denunciation that could be described as republican (P. 105), which echoes the words of the successor to Brice Hortefeux ; Association of companies and individuals with the project to repress illegals (which we think of airlines, banks or employers) ; Transversal character of the authority of the Minister of Immigration on Administrative Services, all agents of the State potentially in contact with foreigners being submitted to him.
What is the profile of “ The chosen immigrant “, ideal ? Unlike presidential declarations on the fate of France, “ Human rights “, Victims of political persecution do not seem to be one of those whom the authorities choose to welcome. This desirable immigration is conceived as having to be diverse in terms of origins and professions. The establishment of national and professional quotas was however upset by the opposite opinion of the commission managed by the former president of the Constitutional Council, Pierre Mazeaud, in July 2008. The option chosen is now that of the bilateral agreements on migratory flows, which constitute the major part of the activity of the ministry in its third attribution, the “ co -development ” Or “ Solidarity development ». The desirable immigrant is above all the one who contributes to the economic, scientific and cultural development of France. But the authors underline the asymmetry of the measures implemented by the State, which devotes many more means to the repression of immigration deemed to be in importance than to the implementation of selective hospitality. Would the Ministry of Immigration be a simple expulsion machine ? What are the methods of this French immigration policy and how the watchwords of humanity and chosen hospitality influence them ?
The concern “ humanitarian “To which the concern for efficiency is associated in speeches is far from being a moderation factor in the application of distance measures. Thus was set up a “ suspicion », Based on bone tests, hair tests and tests DNA (p. 157) and intended to determine the age or parentage of foreigners. Its scientific reliability and justifications in ethical terms continue to be the subject of many questions. The increased decision -making autonomy of the prefectures, moreover, is a major feature of the current immigration policy: everything happens as if this side of the concerns of power was to escape the national debate, and the “ Bottom agents »(P. 179)-Officials of prefectures, heads and office sous-chefs, police-are invested with a most considerable room for maneuver. French overseas is at the heart of an interesting chapter, which reveals that the existence of a regime derogating from common law made of certain parts of the French Republic-in particular Guyana, Mayotte, Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe-fields of legislative and administrative experimentation in the field of the fight against clandestine immigration. Thanks in particular to certain colonial survivals, such as the existence of a local civil status of customary law, alongside ordinary law, are arranged from derogations from the latter which facilitate distance measures.
The authors engage in, in the final part of the work, to an assessment of the French immigration policy put into practice during this first year of presidential mandate, in economic, demographic and legal terms. Making their claimed pragmatism of the highest authorities, they raise the question of the effectiveness of the practices implemented in relation to the ambitions displayed. It emerges from their work that France is one of the countries where the “ migratory pressure Is the lowest, the number of people born abroad residing in the territory also. People who form the processions of immigrants, moreover, benefit from a growing qualification and mostly come from so -called “ emerging “And not” developing ». “” All the misery of the world So does not hurry at the gates of France.
Another received idea which the authors attack: immigrants do not constitute a “ burden For public finances, but contribute to growth as workers and consumers, while it is evaluated at more than 2 billion euros per year (p. 387), or 0.1% of GDP From France in 2008, the overall cost of arrest, retention and remoteness procedures. Thus, the policy to combat immigration known as suffered is “ Deeply counterproducti (VE), in terms of the energization of the economy of which the head of state is nevertheless intended to be the champion (P. 392). Likewise, the objectives of rebalancing exchanges in favor of the countries of the South and the strengthening of the rule of law – when most of the distance measures are of administrative origin and leave little to take judicial actors – are far from being achieved, according to the contributors. In a final reflection which one can regret that it is not more developed, the power as it is exercised and justified is questioned through the prism of immigration, in the relationships that practical and discourse, rhetorical and concrete coherence of politicians maintain.
At a doubt, That France is a political book, which does not deprive itself of rhetorical means, and sometimes resorts to irony, sometimes with emotion and the feeling of humanity. Its authors, however, base their approach to denunciation on fine and precise analyzes, because they precisely identify the risks of a simple compassionate posture in terms of political efficiency. Throughout the 450 pages of the book, they endeavor to scrupulously describe a system which produces humiliation and arbitrariness, a kind of reason of state with evanescent logic.
Photo : “ Go ahead of your card ! », Collage rue Charlot of the photos of Fabien Breuvart, (CC) DOLARZ