Mass migration costs French taxpayers around 10 billion euros per year, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The actual cost of immigration is a highly debated subject in France. The populist National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, estimates it could be anywhere from 10 billion to 70 billion a year when adding in other linked costs, franceinfo reports.
That could include housing, medical benefits, the care of unaccompanied minors, and other social benefits for migrants, as well as all of the associated costs of asylum seekers and illegals.
A report released last month estimated that each minor illegal migrant costs the French taxpayer approximately 50,000 euros per year. With 41,000 underage migrants in the country, that puts the annual bill to the taxpayer at two billion euros.
The OECD report does say that migrants bring in around four billion euros a year, but the figure still leaves French taxpayers with a large deficit as the number of migrants grows annually.
The growth has been particularly prevalent in the number of migrants seeking asylum in France. For the last several years in a row, France has set record numbers in terms of asylum claims. 2018 alone saw an estimated 123,000 asylum claims.
The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) noted that the highest number of asylum seekers last year came from Afghanistan, up 55 per cent from the previous year.
Earlier this week, the French parliament debated the subject of immigration with French President Emmanuel Macron saying the country should not be “too attractive” for migrants.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, by contrast, has slammed Macron for being too soft on immigration and recently proposed a national referendum on immigration issues.
“These are questions to which the French have the right to answer, have the right to be questioned because it’s been for the past 30 years that an immigration policy which is contrary to their will has been carried out,” Le Pen said last month.