The state visit comes after France’s lower house of Parliament advanced an immigration bill introduced by Macron that would toughen France’s immigration and asylum laws. The bill would shorten deadlines for migrants to apply for asylum, while doubling the time that authorities can detain them, to 90 days. It would also allow for a 1-year prison term and fines for migrants found to have illegally crossed into France. Children could also be jailed with their families. The bill also continues a policy under which French citizens face fines and prison sentences for helping undocumented migrants—so-called crimes of solidarity. This is French parliamentarian Matthieu Orphelin.

Matthieu Orphelin: “I think it’s unbelievable that in 2018 a citizen who acts in solidarity with a migrant or asylum seeker, to help them during a health emergency, for example, can be convicted of that today in France. I think it’s completely anachronistic. And this crime of solidarity must be profoundly modified.”