Former French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour held up “Nobel Peace Prize winner” Barack Obama as an example of how France could embark on a programme of “remigration” and deport millions of unwanted migrants from the country
The leader of the populist Reconquêt (Reconquest) party pushed back on the notion that it is impossible to reverse the impact of mass migration seen in Europe over the past decade, pointing to former American Democrat President Barack Obama as a potential model.
The former presidential candidate and populist polemicist described his vision of “remigration” as the “return of unwanted immigrants”, citing illegal migrants, long-term unemployed foreigners, convicted criminals, and those with “S files” meaning they are under surveillance for potential extremism.
“None of this is indecent or impractical. During his mandate, Obama, Democratic President and Nobel Peace Prize winner deported more than two million foreigners!” Éric Zemmour said.
Indeed, despite his status as a social justice icon, the former American president earned the monicker “Deporter in Chief” from mass migration advocates in the United States after deporting 2.7 million migrants, or approximately a thousand migrants per day during his eight years in office.
Conservative critics of Obama’s immigration record have noted, however, that many of those counted as being “deported” were, in reality, migrants who were simply turned away from the border.
The issue of “remigration” has become a heated issue in Europe in recent months, following the release of a Soros-funded report titled the “Secret Plan against Germany“ from the leftist Correctiv non-profit in January. The report claimed that members of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gathered with controversial figures such as Austrian identitarian activist Martin Sellner at a November conference in Potsdam.
It was claimed by the report that Sellner presented the politicians with a “master plan” to begin mass deportations of people based on their race, even including those with a “migration background”, meaning that they were born in Germany and only have German citizenship.
The claims were denied by numerous people who were involved in the conference, and Sellner, himself, has also denied advocating for the forcible removal of people with a migration background. He argued that the Correctiv investigators — none of whom were actually present to hear him lay out his “remigration” plan — had misunderstood the meaning of the term, arguing that many incentives could result in unassimilated ethnic groups living in Germany desire to return to their homelands voluntarily, including Berlin providing development assistance in places such as Africa.
Nevertheless, the report sparked massive outrage among the left in Germany, with millions taking to the streets to denounce the AfD. The scandal has also had international ramifications, with a split erupting between the AfD and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France. The two right-wing populist parties represent two of the major partners in the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament.
Despite the AfD making it clear that it has no intention of deporting German-born citizens with a migration background and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel travelling to Paris to meet with Le Pen last month, the rift between the two parties has only deepened. Sources within the ID group have even warned that the relationship between the two parties is so great that it could potentially spell the end of the parliamentary group altogether.
Zemmour, whose party is running to the right of Le Pen in the European Parliament elections in June, took aim at the National Rally leader over the weekend, saying: “Marine Le Pen is afraid of all the words that make people angry,” adding: “Madame Le Pen believes that Islam is compatible with the Republic, I do not.” Zemmour has previously said that he would establish a “Ministry of Remigration” with the aim of removing a million migrants from France within the first five years of its operation.