France senate approves bill to ban undocumented immigrants from marrying

(AFP): France's Senate approved a bill on Thursday, aimed at prohibiting undocumented immigrants from marrying in the country, as part of the government's broader efforts to tighten immigration laws.

The proposed legislation has faced strong opposition from the left, which has condemned it as unconstitutional.

The legislation backed by immigration hardliners Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin was approved by the French parliament's upper house at first reading, with 227 votes in favour and 110 against.

The bill must now pass through the National Assembly lower house.

French authorities are seeking to tighten immigration policies and border controls, in a move emblematic of the rightward shift in French politics following last summer's legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

The legislation is aimed at cracking down on sham marriages and closing loopholes that help facilitate the delivery of residence permits or French nationality through marriage.

But the legislation runs counter to a 2003 decision by the French Constitutional Council, which said that a foreigner's irregular status "cannot in itself be an obstacle to the marriage of the person concerned."

Greens senator Melanie Vogel denounced what she called "a full-scale attack on the Constitution."

The Socialist Corinne Narassiguin said the initiative was aimed at amplifying "an anxiety-provoking climate of xenophobia and racism."

The initiative came in response to the case of a mayor of a town in northern France who was taken to court by a former mosque leader for refusing to officiate the man's wedding in 2023. The mosque leader was later deported.

Under French law, marriages must take place in city halls.

The Senate vote came days after a separate case, in which prosecutors summoned the mayor of the southern town of Beziers, Robert Menard, for refusing to officiate a wedding between a French woman and an undocumented Algerian man in 2023.