Senegalese men selling souvenirs at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France


population as a whole, which did not sit well with the French people and their strong belief in nationalism. For some Senegalese people, France was and is seen as a place of opportunity and prosperity. Young people see it as a means of social advancement where they’ll have access to technology as well as educational and economic benefits. Unfortunately, this perception is not usually the reality of Senegalese immigrants living in France who have to contend with the many of the same practices that made up French colonialist policies, in particular the pressure to assimilate.


French integration policy compels immigrants to give up “their collective linguistic, religious and cultural traits for citizenship, through which they [would] gain equal treatment.” Tose who resist this pressure oſten find themselves relegated to the outskirts of French society. Foreign customs and culture are seen by some as being detrimental to the collective French identity. Approximately ninety-four percent of people in Senegal today are Muslim, a religious difference which serves to further alienate them from mainstream French society. On February 10, 2004 the French National Assembly passed a law that banned the wearing of an Islamic headscarf in public schools. Te law stated: “In the schools, public secondary schools and high schools, wearing symbols or dress by which students conspicuously manifest religious affiliation is prohibited.” Te bill would go on to be passed by the French Senate on March 3, 2004 in a vote of 276 to 20. Tis is just one of many laws and policies aimed at preserving French identity. In France, one writer states, “the people have to fit the republic not the reverse.” As the immigrant population continues to grow, they are oſten blamed


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Woman speaking with the press, shortly aſter the headscarf law was passed in France.


for issues surrounding unemployment, crime, housing and education. In 1993 the French government passed a number of laws aimed at further preventing immigration. Tese laws increased restrictions on family reunification and limited immigrant access to social security, health care and education. Anti-immigration policies continued and intensified in the 2000s under French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy who became president in May 2007. Troughout his time in office, Sarkozy was both recognized and ridiculed for his xenophobic rhetoric and policies. He was voted out of office in May 2012 and in July 2012 French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced plans to get rid of some of the policies introduced by Sarkozy’s administration, which he described as “random and discriminatory.” Despite this statement, Valls did not advocate for major changes to France’s immigration policy.


Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy


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