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French Mayors Defy Prosecutors Over Marriages Involving Undocumented Migrants

As the National Assembly prepares to debate a proposed ban, mayors face legal threats for refusing to officiate marriages deemed insincere.

Une maire de la Drôme refuse de marier une Française à un Tunisien en situation irrégulière ce samedi.
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Overview

  • President Emmanuel Macron has called for a swift examination of a bill to ban marriage for undocumented migrants, already approved by the Senate in February.
  • Marlène Mourier, mayor of Bourg-lès-Valence, refuses to marry a Tunisian man and a French woman, citing suspicions of a sham marriage despite a prosecutor's injunction.
  • The prosecutor ruled the marriage investigation found no evidence of fraud and invoked constitutional protections for the right to marry.
  • Mourier risks up to five years in prison and disqualification from office for her refusal, stating she is willing to defend her stance in court.
  • The debate has intensified following similar actions by Béziers mayor Robert Ménard, who is set to face trial for refusing a marriage involving an Algerian with an expulsion order.