PARIS
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that immigration was not necessarily a \u201cbad\u201d thing, in a thinly veiled riposte to the country\u2019s hard-line interior minister who has vowed to crack down on migration.
\n\u201cIs immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,\u201d Macron told broadcaster France Inter.
\n\u201cIs immigration from Africa bad in general? In truth, not totally,\u201d Macron said in remarks recorded earlier this week and broadcast on Saturday.
\nOn Friday and Saturday, Macron hosted dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for the \u201cFrancophonie\u201d summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years. He hopes the gathering will help boost French influence in a world beset by crises, in particular Africa.
\nThe African continent receives more from immigrants in Europe sending remittances home than from European public development aid, Macron said. \u201cShame on us,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cAll this is much more complex than people want to admit,\u201d Macron added, pointing to the \u201cethical and political tension\u201d on the issue.
\nMacron also said foreign-born French people helped make France stronger.
\n\u201cThere are millions of dual nationals in our country. There are at least as many French people of immigrant origin,\u201d Macron added.
\n\u201cThis is our wealth. And it is a strength,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe difficulty at the moment is how we manage to fight against human traffickers, these illegal immigration networks,\u201d he said.
\nFrance\u2019s new right-wing government has pledged to clamp down on immigration and fight people traffickers.
\nA two-year-old child was crushed to death and several adult migrants died in two separate tragedies overnight Friday to Saturday when their overcrowded boats tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French officials said.
\nFrance\u2019s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has vowed new immigration rules to \u201cprotect the French,\u201d adding that he did not think that immigration presented \u201can opportunity\u201d for France.
\nRetailleau also said that \u201cthe rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred.\u201d
\nHis appointment is emblematic of the rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier following this summer\u2019s legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that immigration was not necessarily a \u201cbad\u201d thing, in a thinly veiled riposte to the country\u2019s hard-line interior minister who has vowed to crack down on migration. \u201cIs immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,\u201d Macron told broadcaster France Inter. \u201cIs immigration from Africa bad in general? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-435600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n