Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


With Labor Quotas, France Takes Migration Policy Down New Path

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - Crammed with Chinese restaurants, Turkish carryouts and
   Tunisian bakeries, Avenue de Flandre in northern Paris is, in many
   ways, the face of today's France. Sub-Saharan African and East Asian
   workers staff the markets lining the grimy artery, a haphazard match of
   needs and chance.

   But for some sectors, that may soon change.

   Earlier this week, French authorities announced the country's first
   foreign worker quotas for non-European Union immigrants to fill key
   labor gaps in areas such as construction -- a road few other European
   counterparts have gone down. But the message wrapped in a broader
   immigration package is a familiar one in a region grappling with
   populist claims of runaway migration and a surging far right.

   Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, in announcing the quota system, said
   France needed to "take back control" of its immigration policy.

   "Taking back control of our migration policy means fighting back
   against abuses of the right of asylum, against irregular migration,"
   Philippe said, as he outlined a raft of measures Wednesday that
   included delaying access to health care for new asylum-seekers and
   dismantling Paris-area squatter camps.

.