Immigration bill passes, but crisis looms for Macron

Lawmakers in France's National Assembly have voted to tighten the country's immigration rules, but their support of legislation championed by President Emmanuel Macron has stirred up a political crisis for him.

Macron's ruling centrist party was bitterly divided over the legislation, with many lawmakers saying it went too far. And Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, which has a strong anti-immigration focus, supported it.

The legislation was too much for Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau who resigned in protest.

Because Macron's government does not have a majority in Parliament, it needs support from smaller parties but has always said it would never vote with the National Rally.

After the bill passed by 349 to 186, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the legislation, which was originally meant to balance tough measures demanded by the public with the need to keep France open to foreign workers, was "a necessary, useful bill".

"I have the feeling of duty being accomplished," she told France Inter radio on Wednesday morning. "We don't vote with the RN … We respond to the concerns of the French."

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the bill "protected the French" and insisted the government had to take steps to stem the rise of Le Pen's party.

"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 during the debate.

The legislation was actually drafted by a committee after opposition parties refused to debate a previous version last week. Ironically, the compromise text was much tougher and called for migration quotas, less access to welfare benefits for foreigners, tough rules for foreign students, and no automatic right to a French passport for children born in France to nonnationals. It also calls for dual nationals convicted of serious crimes to lose their French citizenship and for undesirable people to be deported.

Le Pen called the legislation an "ideological victory", while far-right lawmaker Edwige Diaz said it was "incontestably inspired by Marine Le Pen".

A grouping of French immigration advocates said: " (The legislation is) the most regressive bill of the past 40 years for the rights and living conditions of foreigners, including those who have long been in France."

Left-leaning members of Macron's Renaissance party were furious with him for supporting it, Radio France Internationale reported.

The Le Monde newspaper said in an editorial: "The political crisis around the immigration bill is a moment of truth where all the fragilities of Emmanuel Macron's mandate are coming together."

Newspaper Le Figaro said several other government ministers are also likely preparing resignation letters.