The alarming warnings about mass migration are no longer limited to right-wing circles. A former French prefect responsible for equal opportunities, who comes from the Left, is alarmed by the massive influx of migrants from Afghanistan, which he believes threatens Europe and France in particular.
Didier Leschi is currently head of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII). He proudly declares his past as a communist activist, but this does not prevent him from making a clear assessment of the critical situation of immigration in Europe today.
He believes that the Left has betrayed its original commitment to serving the disadvantaged. He has made many enemies within his own camp by publishing two essays in quick succession that break with the prevailing tone on the issue of immigration: Misère(s) de l’islam de France (The Misery of Islam in France), published in 2017, followed by Ce Grand Dérangement. L’immigration en face (The Great Disruption. Facing Immigration), published in 2020.
He recently turned his attention to the specific case of Afghan immigration in a report commissioned by the Fondation pour l’innovation politique (Fondapol), a leftist think tank which describes itself as “liberal, progressive and European.” In recent months, several criminal cases (assaults, rapes and murders) have involved Afghan migrants, making this issue particularly sensitive in French public opinion. His report is now the most downloaded on the Fondapol website, according to Le Figaro.
Leschi analyses the phenomenon of Afghan immigration as “sudden,” “unexpected,” and “massive” since 2015. The figures speak for themselves. In 2007, there were 1,600 Afghans throughout France. Today, they form a community of nearly 100,000 individuals.
Among those responsible for the Afghan invasion, Leschi does not hesitate to point the finger at former German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose 2015 call to open Germany’s borders wide is now having a delayed effect.
Today, in France, Afghans are now among the top ten nationalities holding residence permits. Afghans have even overtaken Syrians, “even though the historical ties between France and Syria are much older and deeper, with France having exercised a mandate over that country from 1918,” points out the OFII. France is also the country that grants Afghans the highest protection rate in the European Union: more than 70%, compared to only 40% in Sweden, for example. This encourages “secondary movements,” meaning rejected asylum seekers from other EU countries come to France to try again.
Afghan immigration is far from harmless. It has serious consequences for national cohesion, as it is characterised by “social, cultural and religious marginality.” In Germany, Afghans account for 2.3% of those charged with offences—five times their share of the population. Sexual crimes are particularly prevalent, reflecting ‘the difficulties in relations between men and women and the devaluation of women’, a ‘major cultural problem, as is well known in Afghanistan’, the report stresses. Afghans are, for example, 21 times more likely than other nationalities to be involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors and are heavily involved in offences related to child pornography and violence.
Leschi is pleased that his report has been so well received, which he sees as proof of a disconnect between media narratives and the daily realities ordinary people face.
The unfortunate thing is that the cupboards are full of excellent reports—which are not followed up by any effective policy recommendations. Is this just another one?
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