France is preparing to take a serious decision, of historical significance, to stop the rampant migratory flow towards the archipelago of Mayotte, the 101st department of the republic, in the Indian Ocean, which is the poorest and in a social situation explosive for years.
As soon as he got off the plane that had brought him from Paris, on the very runway of the airport, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, gave the news that many people were waiting for on the islands. At the initiative of President Emmanuel Macron, a change will be made to the French Constitution – which dates back to 1958 – to abolish the right to land in Mayotte. Goodbye to the historic ius soli. It will no longer be enough to be born there to automatically obtain French nationality. One of the parents must be French. “It is an extremely strong, clear, radical measure, which will obviously be limited to the Mayotte archipelago”, said Darmanin.
The differentiated migratory treatment for part of the territory is a very daring and controversial change. Despite the minister’s words, critics fear it opens the door to more widespread restrictions. What will happen in Mayotte – because it is quite certain that the Parliament in Paris will end up approving the constitutional amendment – would be the equivalent of establishing a different migration rule for the Canary Islands.
Macron has dared to take this step in view of the deterioration of public order in Mayotte, subjected to continuous protests and road closures and with a high crime rate. Essential services on the islands, which also suffer from a serious shortage of drinking water, are overwhelmed.
The drama of Mayotte is part of the hangover from colonization. France got the territory in 1841, after buying it from the local sultan. Then the French empire incorporated the neighboring islands of the Comoros. In 1974, under the auspices of the United Nations, a self-determination referendum was held. All the islands opted for independence by an overwhelming majority, except for Mayotte, where 63% of its inhabitants wanted to continue in France. Another consultation confirmed this in 1976. In 2009, another referendum decided that Mayotte would become an overseas department, with equal rights to the rest of the territories, such as Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana.
The fact that Mayotte is 100% French has made it a magnet that attracts the inhabitants of the neighboring Comoros and, more recently, also irregular immigrants from Tanzania and other East African countries. Although Mayotte is very poor, its per capita income of 9,300 euros is eight times that of the Comoros and up to twenty times that of Madagascar. This explains this unstoppable exodus, often in canoes, the traditional kwassa-kwassa. It is not even known what real population lives in Mayotte. In its 376 square kilometers (like La Gomera), around 310,000 legal inhabitants and around 150,000 irregular inhabitants are crowded there.
In addition to abolishing the right to land, the new immigration law that was approved in December involves greatly extending the deadlines for family reunification of people who have already set foot on the islands.
Right-wing and far-right leaders applauded the decision to abolish ius soli in Mayotte, the law that still governs in countries that grew thanks to immigration, such as the United States. Conservatives and the far-right regretted that the measure comes so late. Leaders of the radical left and the greens warned that it will cause “a historic rupture” and a “demolition of our values”, in line with what the extreme right has been demanding for years, which paves the way for it to arrive in power
