French presidential election candidate Éric Zemmour has vowed to create a “Ministry for Remigration” and deport 1 million foreigners if elected on April 24.
With just two full weeks to go before the first round of voting on April 10, Zemmour has stepped up his campaign to take back control of France’s borders, telling French broadcaster M6 on Monday that his administration would deport 100,000 “undesirable foreigners” every year. He added that his aim was to deport 1 million of them.
“The reason for my candidacy is that I see French identity threatened by a population exchange. I want to stop this,” Zemmour told viewers, warning the electorate that France will “be a Muslim country” by 2060 if it continues on its current trajectory.
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“When someone comes to your house and trashes everything and assaults you, you kick them out of your house and you send them home,” he added. “You shouldn’t be afraid of words that upset a small [journalistic] environment.”
The ministry would be responsible for the removal of “illegal, delinquent and criminal foreigners,” as well as those deemed by French intelligence services as posing a security threat.
Zemmour has sought to differentiate himself from the National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, a fellow conservative candidate he currently trails in the polls. Both Zemmour and Le Pen have promised a national referendum on the issue of immigration if they win, but Zemmour has been more willing to describe mass immigration as a Great Replacement. The French public overwhelmingly supports a halt to immigration, making the issue a key campaign issue for all French candidates.
Zemmour, however, faces an uphill battle. The latest estimates suggest conservative essayist Zemmour could acquire between 9-13 percent of the vote in the first round, while Le Pen is tipped to receive between 16-19 percent. The incumbent Emmanuel Macron remains at the top of polls and would be a heavy favorite against either in a second-round run-off vote.
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Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, sparked debate last week by defecting from the National Rally leader’s election campaign and endorsing Zemmour. Maréchal has subsequently promoted Zemmour’s hard-hitting immigration reforms on her social media platforms.
“The objective of the Ministry of Remigration will be the departure of one million foreigners over the whole of the mandate in order to arrive, in the long term, at a negative migratory balance on French soil,” Maréchal posted on Twitter.
Zemmour will hope to improve his fortunes at a mass rally in Paris’ Place du Trocadero on Sunday, which marks exactly two weeks until the French head to the polls.
