Is it true that “60 to 70%” of the parents of children born in the archipelago are foreigners, as Gérald Darmanin states? – Liberation

Nearly a month after the passage of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte, which left this French department devastated and thousands of people without housing, the Bayrou government is focusing on the migration issue, presented as a central issue in the question of the reconstruction of the archipelago.

This Monday, at the microphone of RTL radio, the Minister of Justice estimated that removing the question of land rights in Mayotte – one of the ways to access French nationality – was “obviously the right way”, because he “it is not possible to have 60% to 70% of non-French parents giving birth in Mayotte”. And Gérald Darmanin continues: “They are made to believe that they will have an Eldorado and then they live in the bangas [petites habitations de fortune, ndlr] in an unacceptable and inhumane manner.”

A majority of foreign parents… but a majority of French children

Gérald Darmanin's formulation is not false, even if in the context of a debate on land law, it can be understood in a misleading way. Thus, if we look at the INSEE website, we see that in 2021 (latest year for which figures are available), 75% of children born in Mayotte had a foreign mother. And 55% of the total children born in the archipelago in 2021 had a foreign father. It is therefore correct to say that the parents of children born that year in Mayotte are, 65%, of foreign nationality. Exactly in the middle of the range given by the minister.

But this does not mean that a majority of children born in Mayotte have two foreign parents. Thus, according to the Statistical Panorama of health in Mayotte published in March 2023 by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) and the Mayotte Regional Health Observatory, “53% of newborns in 2021 [au nombre de 10 704] have at least one French parent and are thus born French”.

In detail, 17% of children born in Mayotte in 2021 are from a father and a mother of French nationality, 7.4% are born from a French mother and a foreign father, 29.2% were born to a French father and a foreign mother. A little less than 47% of children are born to two foreign parents.

It is enough for one of the parents to be French for the rule of blood law to apply. “A child of whom at least one parent is French at the time of birth is French. as defined by the France Diplomatie website.

In the case where both parents are foreigners, blood law does not apply. The child, born in France to foreign parents, will then only be able to acquire French nationality upon reaching the age of majority if he or she has lived in the country for five years since the age of 11. Additional condition in Mayotte since the law on asylum and immigration of 2018, which came into force in April 2019: one of the parents of foreign nationality must have resided in France regularly (under cover of a residence permit ) in France for at least three months before the birth of the child. This particular treatment is made legal by article 73 of the Constitution, which allows overseas territories to adapt laws according to “particular characteristics and constraints”.