The mayor has appealed to the interior minister requesting the tightening of the immigration law, as well as asking for greater powers for city leaders and municipal police in order to be able to tackle a steadily increasing migration pressure more efficiently.

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi has appealed to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin in a letter, asking him to toughen the proposed draft immigration bill in September, in a bid to ensure greater powers for mayors and to widen the remit of municipal police. In his Twitter post, Mr Estrosi put forward several, mainly immigration-related proposals.

Suite á l’annonce de la présentation d’un projet de loi relatif á l’#immigration á l’automne, j’ai écrit á @GDarmanin pour lui faire part de ma contribution et de mes propositions afin de renforcer le pouvoir des Maires, notamment concernant les populations errantes. pic.twitter.com/FTkerJvtJT

— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) August 1, 2022

As his first proposal, Nice’s mayor wants municipal police to be allowed to run identity checks, as they are currently forbidden to check people’s IDs, even though their task is to maintain public order. In his second proposal, also related to the municipal police, Mr Estrosi calls for a review of the legislation in effect and for allowing the municipal police to take action in order to eliminate illegal and makeshift migrant camps without first having to initiate legal proceedings with the administrative court and ask for assistance from the national police through the prefect. As his third proposal, the mayor of Nice asks that the Metropolitan Police be given the power to seize equipment in the possession of immigrants on their own authority, without the help of the prefect and the prosecutor’s office.

The mayor’s fourth proposal concerns children. Mr Estrosi asks the interior minister to simplify child custody procedures, stressing that they are collateral victims of their parents’ situation and live in conditions that do not correspond to human dignity.

In his fifth and final proposal, Mr Estrosi calls for the revision of the Schengen agreements. The mayor of Nice would introduce regular checks by the prefecture’s services to ensure that the citizens of EU member states have the necessary financial means to stay in France for a duration that exceeds three months.

Proposition 5 : Engager une refonte des accords de Schengen. Systématiser les contrôles pour s’assurer que les ressortissants des pays membres de l’Union européenne disposent des ressources nécessaires pour se maintenir sur le sol français au-delá de trois mois de séjour. pic.twitter.com/4gtk1eNJM8

— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) August 1, 2022

As the French state is unable to take all the necessary steps to tackle the growing migration wave, the city of Nice will have to deal with the masses of migrants from the East, Christian Estrosi said. He also underlined that he agrees with the interior minister’s proposal to expel illegal immigrants who commit crimes, even if they have children in France, BFMTV reports.