Paris: France's Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would prevent undocumented immigrants from marrying in the country as part of a broader government effort to crack down on illegal immigration. The draft law, which has been criticized by the left as unconstitutional, passed the upper house of parliament with 227 votes in favor and 110 against.

The legislation, supported by hardline immigration officials such as Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, now moves to the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, for further consideration.

The French government has been seeking to strengthen immigration policies and tighten border controls, a move that aligns with the country's rightward political shift following last summer's legislative elections, which resulted in a hung parliament.

The bill is intended to address so-called sham marriages and close loopholes that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain residence permits or French nationality through marriage.

However, the proposal contradicts a 2003 ruling by the French Constitutional Council, which held that a foreigner's irregular status "cannot in itself be an obstacle to the marriage of the person concerned."

Green Party senator Melanie Vogel criticized the bill, calling it "a full-scale attack on the Constitution." Socialist Party member Corinne Narassiguin condemned the measure as an attempt to "amplify an anxiety-provoking climate of xenophobia and racism."

The initiative was prompted by the case of a mayor in northern France who was taken to court in 2023 for refusing to officiate the wedding of a former mosque leader. The mosque leader was later deported.

Under French law, marriages must be officiated at city halls. The Senate vote came just days after prosecutors summoned Robert Menard, the mayor of Beziers, for refusing to officiate a marriage between a French woman and an undocumented Algerian man in 2023. AFP