Tel-Chai Nation

And now, here's some very good news with Nicholas Sarkozy: as The Washington Post reported recently, he put together an immigration bill that would help to curb illegal immigration and allow for special "selective" immigration. Never before has selectivity sounded so positive.

PARIS, May 17 -- France's lower house of parliament approved a tough new immigration bill Wednesday that would allow the country to selectively chose which foreigners can live and work here and require that they learn the French language.

The bill, which passed the National Assembly 367 to 164 after 54 hours of debate, was a reaction to rising complaints that the country's problems are being caused by immigrants. It was authored by France's tough-talking Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, and is vital to his plans to run for the presidency next year, political analysts say. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it will be debated next month.

The proposed law would dramatically change several longstanding French immigration policies. It would make it easier for the country to screen out low-income, poorly educated immigrants in favor of highly skilled workers; it would tighten restrictions under which immigrant workers can bring their families to France; and it would abolish the right of illegal immigrants to receive residency papers after living in France for 10 years.

The bill has been harshly attacked by human rights groups, labor unions, leftist politicians, and Muslim and Christian leaders in France. Leaders abroad, particularly in France's former colonies, have complained that it seeks to take their best and brightest, threatening a debilitating brain drain.

But polls show that immigration is a top concern among French voters, fueled in part by riots in immigrant communities outside Paris last fall, rising unemployment and strikes by students and labor unions this spring, increasing fears of terrorism and militant Islam, and overextended welfare services.

Now the Post is trying to avoid being clear what the problem is here, and that being Islamofascism, of course, not immigration in and of itself. But getting past that flaw, this is very good news, and shows that in France, the patriots are starting to stand up and speak out for the good of the country.

As California Conservative said recently, it makes the US Senate look weak by comparison on the issue.

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Labels: Europe, France