The French parliament has adopted a law banning Nigerian students and others from asking their families to visit the country.
According to a BBC report, the law was approved by both President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and the Deputy of the French National Assembly, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.
A preceding draft had been rejected by parliament last week, when the National Rally, together with the left, voted against it.
In response to this, the government redrafted the bill, and made some of its provisions tougher.
This new stricter immigration policy makes it more arduous for migrants to invite their family members to France as well as delaying their access to welfare benefits.
The law is also banning detaining minors in detention centers while leaders of a third of French regions have said they would not adhere to certain measures in the law.
Another controversial provision discriminates between citizens and migrants (including those legally living in the country) in determining eligibility for benefits.
This stricter version of the law appealed to right-wing parties, who sanctioned it on Monday.
32 out of France’s 101 departments, including Paris, have said they would not be implementing the provisions of the law on benefits for non-citizens.
The new French legislation have revealed the divisions within the governing alliance.
27 MPs had voted against the passing of the law while 32 (almost a quarter of pro-Macron MPs) abstained.
Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau, who had been a member of the Communist Party in his youth, stepped down in remonstration at the immigration law.
Shortly after the vote, the prime minister recognised that some measures in the law might not be constitutional.
“We will be seeking the Constitutional Council’s opinion,” she said to a French radio, referring to a top court that validating the constitution’s principles.
