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Senegambians in Europe seek legal advice over sweeping immigration reform

Dec 22, 2023, 12:01 PM | Article By: Alhagie  Mbye, The Point's Int’l Correspondent

Hundreds of Senegambian nationals across Europe are currently seeking legal advice over what legal experts described as “sweeping, far-reaching and widespread immigration overhaul”.

Currently, the European Union also agreed to not only "reform" the Immigration and Asylum systems across the bloc but also added tough and hard-hitting rules.

The unprecedented reforms are so severe that the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, a respected migrant rights umbrella body, publicly condemned it as “byzantine in their complexity and Orban-esque in their cruelty…”

The group is referring to the EU leaders that are uncompromisingly advocating the reforms “without properly taking into consideration the rights and plight of the refugees”.

Implementing the scheme, few hours ago, the French Parliament finally passed legislation hardening its own immigration policy prompting the country’s 101 departments including the city of Paris to protest and refuse to obey or ratify it.

Furthermore, opposition parties in France are so furious that they refused to even debate the bill in Parliament until a so-called “compromise text” was hastily drawn up by a Special Parliamentary Committee.

Biram Secka, Gambian living in Paris, responding to The Point, said: “We are told to seek proper legal advice because the reforms are so ambiguous and shocking… it is very hard to comprehend.”

Ndeye Ba, a Senegalese catering supervisor, told this correspondent: “Some of our potential staff may have to reconsider their approach due to the unexpected changes.”

Despite the criticisms across the board, the rhetoric against migrants are ongoing constantly and relentlessly.

Aurélien Rousseau, the country’s Health Minister, resigned objecting and denouncing the law.

However, shielding the law, Gérald Darmanin, French Interior Minister, defended it as “a Bill that protected the French…and to avoid the rise of the anti-immigration far-right National Rally Party”.

Meanwhile, anti-migration policies are currently thriving beyond Europe including Australia and the U.S.