Good news came recently to all undocumented migrants living in fear of the French state. All they have to do to gain citizenship is save a child’s life.
Mamoudou Gassama has been showered with praise after his courageous rescue of a small child hanging from a balcony in Paris.
French president Emmanuel Macron took time out from ordering riot cops to harass refugees in northern France to meet Mamoudou Gassama on Monday. “I told him that in recognition of his heroic act he would have his papers in order as quickly as possible,” Macron said in a statement.
Meanwhile, French migrant rights activist Martine Landry is being prosecuted for “having aided the entry of two foreign minors in an irregular situation” in February.
Also this week Macron’s new immigration bill goes to the Senate for ratification.
It cracks down on people just like Mamoudou Gassama. Britain is even worse. Robert Chilowa became well-known when he saved children from a fire in Manchester in 2017.
The Tories’ response was to threaten him with deportation to Zimbabwe.
Such episodes shine a light on the gross hypocrisy at the heart of the French and British state—and at the heart of a brutal system of borders.
All people should be allowed to travel and live wherever they want to.
A new report shows how racist scapegoating influences national opinion
Investors fear that it's unsustainable
Plus: Our take on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor still being granted a royal funeral
