The French authorities have launched the process of promoting amendments to the constitution that would abolish the right to automatically obtain French citizenship for those born in the overseas department of Mayotte to curb undocumented immigration, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Sunday.
"We will introduce legislation to abolish the right to obtain French citizenship for those born in Mayotte," Darmanin was quoted by the French media as saying during his visit to Mayotte.
The measure is designed to reduce the island's attractiveness for undocumented migrants, whose children have the right to automatically become French citizens if they are born on Mayotte's territory, the minister explained. Under the new legislation, only children born to French parents in Mayotte will have the right to French citizenship.
The relevant bill is to be studied by the French lower house in "the near future," the minister added.
In addition, Darmanin announced the introduction of an "iron curtain" — a series of other measures aimed at combating undocumented migration to the French overseas department from mainland Africa, the report said.
Mayotte is an island in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Following a 1974 referendum, the Comoros Islands gained independence from France, but the majority of the population in Mayotte opposed independence, and it remained French territory, despite the claims of the Comorian authorities. In 2011, Mayotte was assigned the status of an overseas department of France.