Macron defends divisive immigration bill, denies govt's tilt to far right

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that a contentious immigration bill backed by the far right is imperfect and needs some fixes but is what the French wanted," and is not a victory for the far right.

The president on a much-listened-to talk show explained and defended the divisive immigration bill that critics claim plays into the hands of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally group at the National Assembly.

It's the fruit of a compromise, Macron said.

Critics claim the bill in part mimics the far-right party's long-standing demand for national preference by which the French, not foreigners, must profit from the riches of the land.

The bill strengthens France's ability to deport foreigners considered undesirable and makes it tougher for foreigners to take advantage of social welfare, among other measures. Some decried it as a betrayal of French values.

It passed the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, with a 349-186 vote late Tuesday. It had already been adopted by the Senate.

Macron's health minister, Aurelien Rousseau, resigned to show his opposition to the draft legislation, and some left-leaning lawmakers in the centrist alliance decided to abstain or vote against it. I respect him, the president said of the health minister who resigned, and was quickly replaced.

Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, described the bill's passage as an ideological victory. Macron contested that, calling it a defeat for the National Rally. He said Le Pen's party plays with fear.

The National Rally has become a political force, with 88 lawmakers in the lower house.

The president acknowledged that there is more pressure from arriving migrants than 10 years ago. But he said we are not submerged, using language of the far right to describe what they claim is an uncontrolled invasion on the horizon. However, if we close our eyes, we play the game of the (National Rally), he said.

Interior Minister Grald Darmanin, who championed the bill, said the government wants greater firmness against foreign offenders.

Who here can say that we must allow criminals, people on our land, who attack us, attack our professors, and who attack our police forces and who attack the youth on the cafe terraces, without reacting? he said in a speech at the National Assembly.

He singled out a recent school attack in which a teacher was stabbed to death by a suspected Islamic extremist from the Ingushetia region in Russia's Caucasus Mountains.

Darmanin said the bill also would allow 7,000 to 10,000 undocumented migrant workers a year to obtain residency permits and fill jobs in sectors that have difficulty hiring, like the food industry and agricultural sector.

The text still needs to be officially enacted into law.

The Constitutional Council must make sure the bill's final version is in line with the Constitution, and Macron said he himself would put the measure before the council because he wants certain provisions changed, noting a payment that foreign students must put forth to study in France.

The vote came after parliament members from Macron's centrist majority and the conservative party The Republicans found a compromise to allow the text to make its way through the legislative process.

Macron's alliance lost its majority in legislative elections last year, forcing him into political manoeuvring.

Government spokesman Oliver Veran acknowledged that changes were made to allow the compromise with The Republicans. There are things in this law that we don't like, that part of the French population doesn't like, that I don't like, but that doesn't dishonour us, Veran said.

Hard-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot, president of France Unbowed group at the National Assembly, urged Macron not to turn the bill into law, calling the text a full-scale attack on fundamental rights.

Advocacy organisations have criticised the bill as a threat to the rights of migrants.

Migrants' rights group Cimade called it the most repressive and abusive immigration bill drawn up in the last 40 years" in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

The debate in France comes as European Union leaders and top officials on Wednesday hailed a major breakthrough in talks on new rules to control migration. Critics said the reforms will weaken the rights of asylum-seekers and encourage more morally dubious deals with countries that people leave to get to Europe.

Macron said that taking action in France was needed and that together with the EU's new rules to control migration, there will be a more effective fight against trafficking networks and quicker expulsions. He said the bill reduces from 12 to 4 the number of procedures available to those threatened with being expelled from France.