This highly symbolic measure has just been approved by the National Assembly committee. On Monday, June 16, MPs approved a bill to ban marriages with illegal immigrants. The bill, originally from the Senate, was put on the agenda by the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), Éric Ciotti's party, with the stated support of ministers Gérald Darmanin and Bruno Retailleau.
A response to mayors faced with suspicious unions
UDR MP Éric Michoux defended a "common-sense" law designed to protect mayors, who are often powerless when faced with unions they suspect of being fraudulent. According to him, by officiating these marriages, some mayors unwittingly become cogs in a system of regularization through procedural irregularities. President Emmanuel Macron himself had called for such a debate to take place quickly in Parliament. Robert Ménard, mayor of Béziers, had also drawn attention to this issue as early as 2023, by refusing to officiate a marriage involving an Algerian man under a deportation order.
On the left, the proposal has been described as repressive and xenophobic. Socialists, environmentalists, and parts of the presidential majority see it as a discriminatory, and even potentially unconstitutional, law. Several MPs have warned that it could be rejected by the Constitutional Council.
The bill will be debated in the House of Commons on June 26, in the heart of the UDR's parliamentary niche. It comes amid a climate of political tension marked by clashes over migration, security, and sovereignty. For its supporters, it is not about hindering love, but about preserving republican law.
