Darmanin Proposes Three-Year Moratorium on Legal Immigration and Calls to Rewrite the Constitution

Overview

• In a wide interview published by the Journal du Dimanche and reported across outlets, Gérald Darmanin proposed a three-year moratorium on legal immigration and said France had reached the limit of its integration capacity.
• He called for removing family-reunification rights tied to some work residence permits, conditioning visas on countries accepting formal removal orders (OQTF), and making migration quotas legally binding through a constitutional change.
• Those proposals are political commitments rather than law because making quotas binding would require a constitutional amendment or a referendum and changing how removal orders work would depend on cooperation from migrants’ countries of origin.
• Alongside migration, Darmanin has pushed administrative child-protection steps after the periscolaire scandal, including a new circular to prosecutors, automatic criminal-record checks for after-school staff, more expert resources, and a specialized prosecutor.
• He is using these measures to position himself ahead of the 2027 presidential campaign while keeping his own candidacy undecided and publicly praising Édouard Philippe as currently best placed.