Since the end of January, the island of Mayotte has been paralyzed by blockages and roadblocks installed by
“citizen collectives”
.
They say they are exasperated by insecurity and uncontrolled immigration, while youth gangs, ever more numerous, sow terror in the neighborhoods, on the roads and even in the schools of the poorest French department. .
Traveling to the island on Sunday February 11, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories Marie Guévenoux announced a constitutional revision to remove land law: it will no longer be possible for Mayotte to become French if you do not come from French parents.
Professor at the Sorbonne-Paris IV and president of the journal “Population and Future”, Gérard-François Dumont has notably published “Géographie des populations. Concepts, dynamics, prospective” (Armand Colin, 2018).
LE FIGARO. - Gérald Darmanin announced the abolition of land rights in Mayotte, calling it a
“radical measure”.
Will it really have a radical effect in practice?
GÉRARD-FRANÇOIS DUMONT. -
I am afraid that is no.
This decision had already been mentioned by previous governments.
In 2005, François Baroin, then Minister of Overseas Territories, said he was in favor of it.
His successor in the same position, Christian Estrosi, put forward the idea again in 2008. But the phenomenon of attraction of Mayotte is an old process, and removing land law cannot “radically
”
change a migratory phenomenon which has lasted for more than a quarter of a century.
In Mayotte, since the end of the 2010s, there have been more foreigners than French people.
Today, the island has eight times more inhabitants than it did when it joined the French Republic in the 1970s. From 44,000 inhabitants, it has grown to more than 350,000.
The situation becomes unmanageable.
Mayotte faces a growing migratory influx and remains plunged into chaos, despite significant investments to develop infrastructure, schools and high schools.
The water crisis has clearly shown this: beyond climatic reasons, it is very difficult to develop infrastructure as quickly as the population increases.
Read also End of the right of soil in Mayotte: a welcome but late decision for the right, a “historic break” for the left
The government has indicated that the objective is to reduce the attractiveness of the territory for migrants from Africa. Do you believe in this deterrent effect?
In fact, as long as a country offers an automatic route to acquiring nationality based on your place of birth, it is attractive.
This phenomenon is not only from Mahorais: Guyana, mainland France, but also the United States, Spain and Colombia are making this observation.
In these countries, people in an irregular situation tend to hurry to have a child, because they know that this automatically grants (or will grant) their child local nationality and prevents any expulsion of the parents.
In Mayotte, other elements explain the attractiveness: the difference in GDP per capita, six times higher than that of the Comoros, or also the quality of infrastructure.
A Comorian woman prefers to give birth in Mayotte where the infant mortality rate is significantly lower.
Furthermore, immigration on the island has changed in recent years.
Previously, it came mainly from the neighboring Comoros, notably from the nearest island of Anjouan.
Since the end of the 2010s, we have seen a broadening of the attraction with migrants from Congo DRC and Somalia, migration facilitated by the development of smuggling networks whose business is flourishing.
This announcement of a revision of land law is therefore late, obviously necessary, but certainly not sufficient to eliminate French attractiveness.
It is rather a preventive measure, which could at most reduce the attractiveness of the territory.
Also read: Mayotte: reversing the history of decolonization, why the Mahorais remained French
Another measure eagerly awaited by the Mahorais was announced: the end of the territorialized visa. Holders of a residence permit in the archipelago will now be able to reach the rest of the French territories, which was previously prohibited to them. Should we expect a wave of migration towards the metropolis?
The risk of an additional wave of migration is real.
Until now, with the
“territorialized visa”
specific to Mayotte, a legal immigrant only had authorization to stay in Mayotte.
The Mahorais, for their part, are demanding the abolition of this exclusive residence permit to evacuate the flow of immigrants from their island.
As a result, we will only move the problem without solving it.
The Comorians, Somalis and Congolese will simply go beyond, towards Reunion and the mainland.
The risk of creating a draft is real, even if the rate of granting asylum requests is relatively low on the island (the countries of origin of migrants in Mayotte statistically correspond less to the criteria for the right to asylum). asylum).
If we decide immediately to abolish the territorialized visa without immediately taking other decisions to limit illegal immigration, it will immediately increase!
The reform of the nationality code, in particular, should occur before or at the same time as the abolition of the territorialized visa, and not after.
Also read: Mayotte: what does the end of “territorialized visas” announced by Gérald Darmanin imply?
One difficulty is that our statistical knowledge in Mayotte has deteriorated with the new census method.
And, given the insecurity, many areas are inaccessible to enumerators.
The precise measurement of this air intake will therefore be difficult to evaluate.