“The few decisions taken by Emmanuel Macron consisted in extending family reunification to the brothers and sisters of unaccompanied minors in addition to their parents”, mocked Marine le Pen, interviewed Tuesday, September 20 on France Inter. The president of the RN group in the Assembly denounced a little earlier an immigration “totally out of control”.
Under the mandate of Emmanuel Macron, entries into the territory have increased by 10% and immigration is out of control. Now he wants to distribute the #migrants in the countryside to make them dormitories for illegal immigrants! pic.twitter.com/OPagMz5IiP
– Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) September 20, 2022
Marine le Pen first makes a big mistake. the “family reunion” that it evokes is only possible for people in a regular situation and under several conditions. To claim to bring family from abroad, applicants for family reunification must in particular provide proof of sufficient income and adequate housing. What Marine le Pen is referring to is rather the “family reunification”. This procedure is made possible for all persons, minors or not, benefiting from refugee status. Contrary to what Marine le Pen suggests, not all unaccompanied minors can claim a family reunification procedure, but only those to whom France has granted asylum: either by granting them refugee status, or subsidiary protection. Concretely, these are young people who have been recognized as being in danger in their country of origin, whose safety, see, life was threatened.
In 2018, the Asylum and Immigration Law effectively brought some changes to this family reunification procedure. Before, only the parents of these minors could ask to come to France in this capacity. From now on, their brothers and their sisters (provided they are minors and unmarried), can too. At the time, this proposal had been hotly debated.
Marine le Pen’s party denounced a measure that risked creating a breath of fresh air for foreigners. However, the figures do not point in this direction. According to Eurostat, less than 500 unaccompanied minors obtained refugee status in 2021 (compared to more than 54,000 adults). In the end, very few siblings are therefore affected by this change in the law.
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